


In One Single Night

by pearliegrimm



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: (of course), Angst, Aomine Daiki Being an Asshole, Basketball, Betrayal, Blackmail, I love that that's its own tag, Inappropriate Humor, Kise Ryouta Being an Idiot, Misunderstandings, Multi, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Stalking, Threats, also love that that's its own tag, aomine kagami and kuroko are all roommates and it goes about as well as you think, holy shit kise this could have been handled much better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-21
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-04-16 11:12:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 70,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4623183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearliegrimm/pseuds/pearliegrimm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t until his third year of high school that he asked himself.<br/>‘What do you like more? Basketball or Kise?’<br/>When he searched for the answer, it became unbelievably clear to him.<br/>Aomine knew he was selfish, at the best of times. So he hardly surprised himself when the only truthful answer he could give himself was both.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Single Note.

There were two reoccurring thoughts stuck in Aomine’s head. The same two things constantly playing back over and over like a broken record player.

The first being basketball, no true shock to anyone that was familiar to him. Basketball in general was something the man lived and breathed. The betrayal he felt when he surpassed everyone else could hardly rival the love he felt for the game. The way the orange sphere felt in his hands. The rough skin, the familiar sound it made as it bounced along a court. Even the smell was something he had grown accustomed to through the years.

The second, was a mystery to Aomine himself. He was never sure when this thought had originally popped up. He wasn’t originally sure exactly why, either. Nevertheless, the same blonde boy he’d known since middle school would pop up, out of the blue, into his mind. Daiki would see him in everything. In the ever present rays of the sunlight streaming through the classroom window. In the golden dandelions he walked past every day to get to school. Kise would materialise into his head and it confused him to no end.

It wasn’t until his third year of high school that he asked himself.

_‘What do you like more? Basketball or Kise?’_

When he searched for the answer, it became unbelievably clear to him.

Aomine knew he was selfish, at the best of times. So he hardly surprised himself when the only truthful answer he could give himself was both.

Even he could admit that he did seem infatuated with the blonde.

It appeared that none other than Aomine Daiki was in love Kise Ryouta and he had a say in none of it.

\---

The winter cup approached steadily. The final one Aomine will ever play in. Despite Momoi’s teasing about how his grades were so bad he might actually have to hang around for another year. Daiki had managed to barely pass his exams and the two of them were finally graduating Touou Academy in a number of weeks. No matter how many times he would deny it, he couldn’t help feeling a little bit nostalgic. This was where he felt the itching pain of losing. Where he experienced the thrill of finally having an opponent that could match his skill. It felt like forever since then. So much, yet so little had changed. After their first year of high school, the Generation of Miracles did see each other more. Whether it was the iron will of Satsuki, or just common sense. The group usually ended up gathering after their own team practices and hung out every so often. Almost like clockwork, the group returned to their same routine from middle school. Aomine could have sworn nothing had changed, except for the new, loud addition to the group. Kuroko had apparently felt the need to invite Kagami to their little meetings for some reason. (Much to Akashi’s noticeable dismay). Daiki couldn’t help but noticed that the small, blue shadow seemed to be taking a more than scientific liking to the guy.

But maybe that was just Aomine’s imagination.     

Not that he particularly cared, anyway.

The one downside to seeing his old team mates was the constant reminder to not do anything weird in front of Kise. If he slipped up and did something even remotely caring for the blonde, his feelings would become known. He really couldn’t have that. Especially not after they’d only just started seeing each other regularly again.

His presumably unrequited feelings, regardless. Many of their afternoons were spent playing one-on-one’s on a street basketball court after everyone had left. Taunting each other just like they used to, it felt like magic.   

Aomine had already decided he would hide his feelings. It wasn’t a hard decision at all, no matter how much it stung. When he didn’t allow himself to brush a stray hair out of the boy’s amber eyes, or throw an arm around him as casually as he used to. It was all he had sacrificed to make sure his love would go unnoticed. It was odd for someone as straight forward as Aomine to hide something like this. It was just that Daiki was absolutely certain that Ryouta wouldn’t reciprocate his feelings. The boy was far too interested in flirting with his beloved fans, and such. Besides, it would mess everything up if he confessed. After the blonde rejected him, Kise probably wouldn’t even want to talk to him again. So, though it pained him, the teen just simply settled for ‘ _friends.’_

Erasing the possibility his feelings could be returned.

As if fate was against him, it was announced that Kaijo and Touou would be playing against each other in the semi-finals of the winter cup. A wicked move that had Aomine praying it didn’t turn out like the inter high of their first year. He regretted not taking Kise’s hand back then, he regretted leaving him there. He could only hope he didn’t make the same mistake again.

Knowing Aomine, it was highly likely he would.

\---

“I’m planning on winning this time, Aominecchi.” Kise remarked, meeting Daiki’s blue eyes as the blonde made his way across the court. His shoes making that well-known squeak on the floor, the sound that had been imprinted on Aomine’s mind for a long time now. That golden hair of his always seemed to shine like nothing else imaginable. It was obvious that Kise’s words were not a lie, not to him anyway. The teen fully believed that he would win.

Aomine smirked, amused at the notion. “As if,” He stared Kise down with the very same confident look he always had just before a game. He looked like a fierce panther, hunting for his next prey. “The only one that can beat me, is me.”  The words tasted bittersweet in his mouth.

 ---

As the final buzzer went, it was Daiki’s words that rang true. Touou had come out victorious, beating Kaijo with one last formless shot from none other than Aomine himself. He grinned, the excitement of challenging Seirin for the winter cup bubbling in his veins. The thrill of another win already energising his entire body and soul.

He couldn’t help feeling ever so slightly melancholic, however. His win had been a fair one, yet he couldn’t shake the bad premonition in his mind.

As he finally noticed, what his creeping suspicion had warned him about. The young basketballer couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming surge of déjà vu.

There sat Kise Ryouta, his old team mate, his rival, and his true love. Just as he did their first year. Under the basketball hoop, with his long arms dangling down onto the gleaming maple floor. Completely exhausted, unable or unwilling to move on his own.  

Daiki remembered all the feelings he had had the first time this had happened. It was something likened to disappointment, or possibly jealousy. The sight of the blonde, on the ground. Looking completely defeated, just like everyone else Aomine had ever faced. He was angry that no one could beat him, at his own power. Upset that the game he had been strongly anticipating had fallen short of something so much greater than it could have been. He was envious that Kise got to feel loss before he did, that he had a proper opponent to face. All these emotions combined into something ugly, something he was ashamed to show anyone. He left the court, leaving Ryouta on the floor. Without looking back once.

The painful nostalgia of this whole scene had Aomine’s heart squeezing in his chest. There was none of those feelings this time. Could it have been that now he had felt the torment of losing, his feelings had changed? Could it be because this time he was certain that the very person he was in love with, was holding back tears of anguish on the ground because of him?

Daiki saw his team’s eyes on him as he walked past them. All of the third years, fully aware of what had happened two years back. The agonising seconds it took him to make his way to Kise’s side went on for what felt like hours.     

As he finally approached the blonde, he held out his hand. As he should have the first time.

Ryouta’s golden eyes, met blue ones as the two met each other’s gazes.

There were no words exchanged, everything had been said through the different looks they had given each other.

Aomine lingers on the touch, his hands staying entwined with Kise’s for a few seconds too long. Whether they both noticed or not, no one mentioned anything.

The world slowed down ever so slightly as the scene played out. Ryouta still held onto Daiki’s hand, whether it was for support, or something else, the dark haired basketballer couldn’t care less.

It would have been so easy just to kiss him in that moment.

It was Kise who broke the silence, finally smashing through the quiet barrier they had put up together. Flashing a put-together smile, flicking his hair to the side. Aomine could see right through him, as if the boy was made of glass. The whole action seemed… forced, plastic. A typical Kise move, putting up a façade for the public.  

He finally let go of Daiki’s hand. Those gold eyes of his, holding a dark emotion behind them.

“Good game, Aominecchi.”

\---

“Dai-Chan? Everyone else has left, what are you still doing here?” the familiar voice of Momoi Satsuki brought Aomine out of his reverie. He had been sitting in the locker room, for God knows how long, staring hopelessly at a wall.

Daiki didn’t answer her.

“You look pretty awful for someone who just won.” The pink haired girl approached the basketballer cautiously.

A half-hearted, sarcastic, “Thanks,” was all that was returned.

A few beats of silence past as Momoi’s dark pink eyes analysed her childhood friend. Usually, Aomine would tell her to stop, it was awfully creepy the way she stared at him like that. These odd ‘psychic powers’ of hers always got under the teen’s skin. Right now however, he just didn’t have the energy.

Momoi opened her mouth, then closed it again. Almost like she decided against what she was about to say. Once again quiet enveloped the two of them.

Satsuki seemed to be having a mind battle with herself as she fought with the right words.

Finally, she shook her head and took a deep breath.

“Does this have something to do with Ki-Chan?”

_‘Bingo.’_

Aomine had almost expected it.

Almost.  

“No, Satsuki, go away.” The boy said, far too quickly for it to be true.

“You’re lying. If it’s about Ki-Chan, you should really see him before Kaijo leaves.”  
“So what if I am lying? Leave me alone.” Aomine snapped, ignoring the latter part of her words.

 “I don’t want to argue, Dai-Chan. Take my advice or don’t, whatever. But if you really like Ki-Chan, you have to do something about it.”

_‘That woman was far too observant for her own good.’_

“I’m going to go out for some fresh air,” The teen muttered stiffly.

Aomine stood, his back to the pink haired manager. Saying nothing else as he exited the locker room.

_‘Maybe she’s right.’_

_‘Of course she’s right.’_

There would be no way in hell he would admit that though.

Almost on auto-pilot, Daiki found himself wandering all over the stadium in search of a familiar blonde head of hair. He had no intentions to confess his feelings to Kise, no matter how far Satsuki pried, there would be no convincing Aomine to do that. As his steps grew more disoriented he found himself think about that synthetic smile Kise had used. How his eyes were twitching, like he was holding back tears. The loss had shaken the blonde more than usual and the teen had to know why.

Naturally, after a while. Aomine had washed up at the basketball courts outside. The street lights just beginning to flick on, as the cold night breeze nipped at his tanned skin. There he had found him, sitting alone clutching a basketball on the side of a court. His shoulders hunching, an uncharacteristic move for one such as Kise. Who always somehow managed to look elegant wherever he was.

There were drops of hesitation leaking out of Daiki’s steps as he made his way over. His sneakers felt heavy, crunching in the gravel, the only noise in the whole world for him right now. Aomine felt his body moving for him, while his mind screamed at him to turn back before he did something he would regret.

Aomine wasn’t really one to think, anyways.

“Oi Kise, the hell are you still doing here?”

He saw the teen’s posture stiffen, completely freezing in place. As Daiki walked to face him. Ryouta sniffled, his hands angrily brushing away a stray tear that had fallen on his face.

_‘How was he this beat up after one stupid game?’_

 Aomine couldn’t remember him being this bad ever before.

“The hell are you crying for?”

Daiki just wasn’t one for subtlety, you see.

The blonde’s eyebrows screw up, almost like he was wondering why Aomine had asked such an absurd question.

“Because I lost,” Kise looked at the boy miserably.

“Yeah,” Daiki rolled his eyes, “I know that,” he mumbled, plonking himself down next to the blonde. The slight brush of their shoulders sending electric shocks down Aomine’s spine.  “A lot of people lose to me.”

Kise snorted, an action that made his teary state worsen. A gross blob of snot falling down his nose.

Aomine bit back a laugh as he saw the boy desperately try to cover it up. His cheeks going a different kind of pink than they had before.

“I just thought it would turn out different,” Ryouta sulked, curling in on himself.

“Oh, stop sulking, Kise!” The tanned boy scowled as he slapped a hand on the blonde’s shoulder. “You can lose to me next time too.”

He felt Ryouta shake beside him.

“Don’t you understand, Aominecchi!” Kise whispered furiously, standing from his previous position so quickly it was like a flash. Looking at the other basketballer with helpless eyes. “There isn’t going to be a next time,” The blonde’s voice caught, tears freely running down his face. Kise kept rubbing at his eyes, begging them to stop leaking.  

_‘He always was an ugly crier.’_

Aomine followed Kise’s actions, him too standing up again. He looked at the man sadly, knowing full well that he was completely right.

After the winter cup, what more would they all see of each other?

Aomine had been scouted by the national basketball team, alongside Kagami. Midorima had gotten accepted into some prestigious university Osaka. Akashi was going to take up his father’s business, never going to be in the same country once, most likely. Kuroko had already begun studying for college entrance exams. Murasakibara had even decided that he wanted to be a pastry chef, apparently.

That left the group of newly reacquainted friends with none too many options.

In fact, only one seemed probable.

The Generation Of Miracles would be no longer.

The thought made ice water fill Aomine’s veins.

“… I guess you’re right about that, Kise,” Daiki’s voice wavered, on the verge of cracking his composure he looked down to the ground. “Man, this sucks,” The dark blue haired man sniffled, feeling his tough exterior shattering to pieces.

He had been hit in the face with reality, and reality hit pretty damn hard.

“Aominecchi…” Kise hadn’t anticipated the other boy to care at all. Let alone let a tear fall. Ryouta knew him better than anyone else and yet the teen could still surprise him. “Yeah, it really does suck,”

“I’m going to miss our one-on-ones,” Ryouta blubbered, not caring about how pitiful he looked. Because right now, his world was almost collapsing in on him.

“Hey, it’s not like we’ll never see each other again,” Daiki reasoned, trying to find the will to smile.

The other teen, returned his smile with a sad grin. Shaking his head so agonizingly slowly that it felt like a snail’s pace.  

“We’re going to be on different sides of the country. You’ll be playing against people way stronger than me. We’ll say that we will keep in touch, but that’s a promise no-one can keep. You’ll see me in a magazine, I’ll see you on TV. We’ll mention something about each other to a spouse or a friend. Never going further than that. The next thing you know, it will be ten years later. We will run into each other in a supermarket or something, you’ll pretend you don’t notice me, and I’ll do the same thing. We’d get on with our own separate lives, never to speak again. And I will always be left wondering, ‘I wonder how Aominecchi is going?’” The blonde is fully aware that he is babbling, he had no filter about what was going on in his mind right now.

“And then when we’re both old and grey, we’ll both regret not playing one-on-ones together anymore and then-“

Kise was silenced by Aomine’s lips.

The blonde wasn’t the only one that hadn’t been thinking.

Not that it was Daiki’s strong suit to begin with.

Aomine had been dreaming about how Kise’s lips would feel. How his golden hair would feel against his calloused hands.

Needless to say, there would be no more imagining.

They both smelt like soap from the showers in the locker room. With the slightest lingering scent of sweat. The taste of salt still fresh on both of their skins.

Ryouta’s lips were so soft. Daiki felt like he was in heaven.    

Once the two finally pulled away, Aomine smirked. “Sorry, I just had to get you to shut up,” His voice betrayed him, the words coming out in a gentle whisper Aomine had no idea he was capable of.  

 Ryouta’s expression was one of extreme surprise. He touched his lips with his hands, looking the most flustered Aomine had ever seen him. Words looked to be failing as he opened his mouth, and shut it again.

The full effect of what Daiki had just done seemed to hit him just then.

_‘Friends don’t kiss each other to shut them up, do they?’_

It certainly wasn’t only because Kise was blabbering like a distressed parrot. There was just something in the blonde. He seemed so sad, so upset. It made Aomine’s chest clench up into thousands of tiny knots and made him want to do something about it.

Kise had stopped crying at least. The action that had just happened moments ago were still replaying in his mind. It was incredibly difficult to process.

Aomine had just kissed him.

_‘What did that mean, exactly?’_

Did the boy like him? Was it just a one-time thing? Was he expecting something back?

Did it mean anything?

Ryouta hadn’t even considered his feelings towards the dark haired teen standing before him.

But now he really was.

For the longest time, they had always been friends, rivals. The two knew each other better than they knew themselves. After everything that had happened at Teiko, after everything that had happened their first year of high school. Kise couldn’t help but miss the stubborn boy he’d met in his second year at middle school. A chance encounter. He was the one who made him realise his love for basketball. He was the one who left him on the court, exhausted and defeated. He was the one that played one-on-ones with him, for countless hours, dwindling until the skies grew too dark to see anything but the outlines of each other’s smiling faces.   

“Aominecchi…”

“I’m sorry,” Daiki blurted out. Two words he never thought he would instinctively say. “That was stupid, you looked sad so my body reacted before my head did.”

_‘Ah, so there was no thought in it, at all’ Kise thought a feeling likened to disappointment settling underneath his skin._

Still, something irked him about this situation. No normal instinct would initiate something like this.

“I don’t think that’s the whole truth, Aominecchi.”

All the words exchanged between the two of them ran through Daiki’s head.

_“There isn’t going to be a next time.”_

If this was the last time he saw the blonde. If this really was the final time his eyes were graced with his presence.

Did he really want it to end like this?  
His words came pouring out of him before he could make the decision to stop.

“You’re right about that Kise. That sure as hell was not the whole truth. You’re annoying as fuck and you try too damn hard. But I kissed you because that’s the only thing that I think about every day. You’re a dumb ass and you didn’t seem to notice this, so I thought I was safe. But I guess that was wrong because here we are.”  
Ryouta stood frozen for the second time tonight. The moments of silence piling up.

“Are you saying you like me?”

“No, yes, dammit!” Aomine hit himself on the head. “Yes.”

That was confirmation enough for Kise. Their lips crashed together for the second time ever. This kiss lasting a lot longer than the first. This kiss a lot more heated than the first. This kiss was ultimately better in every single way. They had their hands all over each other, feeling every inch of their clothed bodies.

Under a basketball hoop, how romantic.

As their kisses turned more passionate. Lasting longer. The two moved from that location. Moving without hesitation back towards Aomine’s house. Conscious, yet unconscious about what they were about to do.

Daiki hears the clanging of his bedroom door as they hastily enter the room, hardly caring. His parents weren’t home anyway.  
The two fall into an embrace on his bed. The only sound he cared about was how Kise kept saying his name. Something he’d only heard him say that way in dirty dreams and rotten fantasies. He hears himself say the blonde’s name as well. The words coming out in a husky whisper. Their hands tug roughly at each other’s hair. Feeling every inch of the other’s toned body as they brushed away their clothing. Leaving fiery kisses on every inch of each other. Dozens of marks of what they had done, laden on both of their bodies.  

Aomine hadn’t dreamed of anything less than perfect.

Reality certainly delivered.

The two fell asleep soon after. Their bodies far too exhausted for anything else other that. The smell of sex in the room was still evident. But the pair couldn’t seem to find the will to care. The hot steamy space reminding the tanned man of the kisses they had shared. Daiki remembers putting his arms around Ryouta almost unconsciously. The two sharing one final kiss as they drifted off to sleep. 

Aomine’s final thought was one of pure contentment. About how he could spent the rest of his life like this.

\---

The sun rose far too soon and far too bright.

It’s brilliant rays hitting Daiki’s face with an annoying force. He scolds himself for forgetting to close the curtains.

_‘Why didn’t I close the curtains again?’_

The events of last night hit him like a bullet train.

The game.

Crying?

_‘Oh.’_

Aomine smirked.

He was too preoccupied with other matters to remember something as trivial as closing the curtains.

_‘I hope the neighbours didn’t see.’_

With his grin still on his face, the boy turned. Reaching his arm out to feel the warmth of certain blonde that he had expected would be there.

Instead he felt a crinkle of paper, as well as an icy dread telling him that something was wrong.

He scanned the note, his eyes moving too fast his brain couldn’t keep up.

_Last night was a mistake. I don’t know what you were thinking. I don’t know what I was thinking either._

_Don’t try and look for me._

His expression was wiped off of his face as he double checked the note. It was most certainly Kise’s spindly handwriting.

This had to be some cruel joke right?

There was no way Kise would betray his feelings… right?

…right?

He searched his house in search of the blonde. Hoping he was playing a trick on him.

He remembered telling the blonde he liked him.

Kise never did say the same.

Was this revenge for winning once again?

Was everything, the crying, the speech all an act to do this to him?

It was starting to seem that way.

It was strange how Aomine had woken up happier than ever. Only to reach out across the bed, and find what he never thought was inevitable. He woke up alone. Looking for the partner he anticipated would be by his side.

But only found the other side of the bed cold and empty.

Just like Daiki’s heart had felt then. It was like he felt it shattering. Like it was a fragile piece of glass that someone had taken a hammer to.

The young basketballer felt nothing but numb as he curled in on himself. The uncharacteristic weakness he could never show around anyone else. He didn’t cry. He didn’t even let out a sniffle.

In one single night, Kise Ryouta had broken him beyond repair.

In one single night, Aomine’s quiet dreams of a life with Kise had been dashed.

His mind played over the contents of the note over and over. Trying to find a clue or a loophole on how the other teen could do such a thing. Daiki even tried calling the blonde, only to receive nothing but an automated voicemail. He tried his house next, only to be greeted with Kise’s distraught mother. Telling him that her son took off early in the morning, not telling her anything.

Kise had vanished completely and no one really knew where he went.

Not even his mother could tell Aomine.

 _‘Don’t try and look for me,’_ the hastily scrawled characters flew around in the basketballers head. So undeniably Kise he didn’t even have that to cling onto.

He could feel in his heart, a painful sorrow that stretched deeper than some kind of paradox.   

_‘Last night was a mistake.’_

Aomine pulled his jacket closer. Breathing in icy air as he hugged himself for warmth. The thought of Kise not even willing to say those words to his face hurt even more. 

‘ _I don’t know what you were thinking.’_

Daiki wanted to punch something. He hated the world for screwing him over. He hated Kise for making him feel this way to begin with.

‘ _I don’t know what I was thinking either.’_

The teen screamed. A heartbroken cry full of frustration. He finally felt the tears, hot streaks falling down his face. They stung like lava in the freezing winter cold. 

Kise didn’t want to be found?  
Good. Aomine didn’t want to see him again anyway.


	2. Fated Encounter.

_“Aominecchi look at the stars!” Kise called, gazing up at the sky in pure amazement._

_It had been one of the days where practice had come to a close and the pair of boys just lost track of time. After being totally obliterated at one-on-ones, Ryouta found himself collapsing in front of the hill near their school. Nothing serious of course, his joints did ache though._

_Aomine complied, shuffling towards the blonde in a quick manner. Throwing himself down beside the other basketballer._

_Daiki couldn’t help but note how the boys golden hair shined like a star in the moonlight. How radiant he looked, how similar to a star he looked like himself._

_The blonde turned to him, his amber eyes alight with excitement. “Do you know any names of the constellations?”_

_The tanned boy snorted, “No, do you?”  
“No clue,” confessed Kise, folding his arms around his head. “They just looked really beautiful tonight.” _

_The two middle school students looked up into the star peppered sky. The moon a perfect crescent, Kise could almost feel the sharp edges of it from here. The horizon, was what people would describe midnight blue, contrasting beautifully with the white constellations._

_Daiki looked at his team mate. The way his pale skin glistened, and how his eyelashes were oh so long. The gentle curve of his smile. The little shimmer in his pink lips._

_“Yeah,” Aomine admitted, “You’re right.”_

_He couldn’t tell if he meant the stars or Kise._

_\---_

“Ugh, Tetsu, stop putting those stupid flowers in the kitchen.” Daiki groaned, rolling his eyes at the plants as he sat himself down on a leather barstool.

“What’s the matter with these flowers, Aomine-Kun?” Kuroko asked curiously, eyeing the tulips and Aomine with masked suspicion.

“They’re too… yellow.” Aomine glared daggers at the blossoms, like they were solely the case for everything bad that had happened in his life.  
“That’s not a reason, dumbass!” Kagami interjected from the stove. Hastily scraping together an undoubtedly delicious meal for the three of them.

Shortly after graduation, the three of them had decided to split the rent of a tiny two bedroom apartment in Kyoto together. Their reasoning being that they were ‘saving up for the future.’ When in reality Aomine was just here to create some kind of buffer zone between Kagami and Kuroko and their strange relationship. Nevertheless, Daiki had obliged, finding a place on his own would be a hassle anyhow.   

Looking back on it, he really should have put the extra effort in. Because Aomine swore that every time he entered the place he walked in on Kuroko and Kagami having sex on the couch. The first few times, Daiki screamed at them to at least go to the bedroom. However, after multiple experiences Aomine barely batted an eyelash and went straight to the kitchen to get some food.

“It’s a reason if I say it is!” Growled Aomine, “When is dinner anyway? I’m fucking starving.”

“Please refrain from swearing, Aomine-Kun.” Scolded Tetsuya, taking a seat beside him. 

“What are you, my mother?”

These childish squabbles happened on a daily basis. They lasted for days if Kuroko wasn’t there to break them up. Considering Kagami and Aomine played on the same national team, you would expect they would have gotten used to each other by now. Instead they just seemed to make fun of each other even more.

Despite all of those things, Aomine couldn’t help but feel glad he shared an apartment with his friends. With his old shadow and his rival. There was something happy about the atmosphere that sometimes made Aomine forget about Kise.

_‘Even after two years, you’re still thinking about him?’_

‘ _Do you not remember what he did to you?’_

_‘Why can’t you just hate him and move on with your life?’_

The basketballer still told no one about that day. He brushed off curious questions. He stopped trying to get information on the blonde. He tried to stop caring.

But it was just so hard.

There were still niggling feelings that popped up in his head every so often. Superstitions that there had to be a reason Kise did what he did. Maybe even a slight amount of hope.

He squashed thoughts like that down quickly, though. Convinced himself that he had, in fact, moved on, when it was the entire opposite. If he had truly moved on, there still wouldn’t be a box under his bed that had _that_ note inside of it. There wouldn’t be Kise’s earing he left behind that night in the very same box.

There wouldn’t be a gaping hole where his heart used to be. Those hasty hook ups meant nothing to him at all. He kept trying to fall in love, but it just didn’t work. He couldn’t forget Kise and he hated the blonde for doing that to him.

He hated him, but he loved him.

 It was pathetic and Daiki knew it.

“Food’s ready!” Kagami declared, snapping Aomine out of his reverie by loudly placing a steaming plate in front of him. “I gave you extra because you were ‘fucking starving.’” Aomine smirked at him, graciously digging into his food as thanks.

“Language,” Kuroko muttered. 

“Sorry,” Kagami frowned, placing a plate in front of the light blue haired man.

Tetsuya stared at the man, his eyes glazing over.

‘ _Oh, God.’_

“You’ll have to make it up to me later…” Kuroko’s voice held a disgustingly suggestive tone within it. Somewhere along the lines of their first and last year of high school, the old shadow seemed to become more and more perverted. It kind of creeped Aomine out, considering he would have never guessed such things from his former team mate. Tetsuya always seemed so… innocent, too pure.     

“Ugh, God. This sounds like a shitty gay porn intro. I get the message. I’ll leave.” The man picked up his plate and placed it into the sink. Popping the last few pieces of egg in his mouth as he headed for his bedroom door before the two of them could ask why he knew what a gay porn intro was like. 

\---

“Alright team, please gather around, I have good news” the stern voice of the national basketball team ordered. His indefinite frown and slouched posture making the whole scenario somewhat comical.

Nevertheless, Aomine did stop insulting Kagami and moved towards the seats. Hitting his redheaded team mate on the side of the head as he made his way there. Kagami made sure to sweep kick Aomine’s legs for revenge. Making Daiki fall flat on his ass while the coach sighed.

“Stop acting like dumbasses for one second,” deadpanned the man, crossing his clipboard over his chest. If they weren’t both ridiculously talented, he would have dropped them already.

That demand was met with two half sincere ‘sorry coach’s’ and a lazy bow from Taiga.

“Anyway, as I was saying. We are going to Tokyo for training. They have a special facility there and I plan on using it before international qualifiers.”

A few murmurs broke out in the group of basketballers.

The coach silenced them, “We leave this Friday. No excuses.”

“Tokyo huh, that brings back memories…”  
Aomine cringed, thinking back on the one he was still trying to forget.

“What are you? An old man? It was like two years ago!”  
“Two years ago that I beat your ass at the winter cup.”  
“Shut up, Kagami.”

Taiga found it extremely fun to tease him about that. It wasn’t Aomine’s fault, his head just wasn’t fully in the game. Every god damn time he saw a blonde head of hair in the crowd he couldn’t help but think that maybe Kise had returned.

It never was him.

Just another reason to curse the blonde. 

“Aw shit I don’t think Kuroko will be able to come with me,” thought Kagami aloud. A frown on his face. The shorter man probably had an exam…

“Please, you can’t spend two weeks without your precious… whatever the hell you two are?!”

Taiga scowled, “You can’t talk, you’ve never had anyone but yourself!”  
Ouch, that one stung more than it should have. Aomine winced but continued walking ahead of Kagami.

“Oi, why are you so pissy today?” Kagami called, hurrying himself to fit with the dark blue haired man’s pace.  
“I’m always pissy!”  
“Well, you’re pissier than usual.”

“No particular reason, Bakagami.”

\---

“What do you mean you can’t come?!” Aomine half shouted into the phone.

He heard something that sounded like a cell phone being dropped and then swearing.

“I have the flu, what do you think, asshole? Coach told me to just take it easy for a few days.” Kagami’s nasally voice verifying his claim.

To tell the truth, Taiga had looked like death incarnate the other day… Not that Aomine noticed at all. He had spent the night at a certain… acquaintance’s house the previous day and was awaiting the train to Tokyo.

“Why do I have to go then?” The man said, yawning. His late night hook up taking a lot longer than usual.  
“Because you aren’t plague-ridden?”

“Ugh, this is such a hassle,” groaned Daiki on the other line. Dropping his suitcase on the ground as he complained.

“I don’t care, now let me go back to bed.”

“Fine,” Aomine hung up. Shutting the phone angrily.

The trip would be no fun without Kagami. No matter how many times he denied it, the man enjoyed Taiga’s presence. Maybe it was because he reminded Aomine of his old self.

With a solid click of his tongue, he shook off the phone call. Actually telling himself not to be a lazy ass because Satsuki wasn’t there to do it for him. He gathered his belongings and continued his journey to the location of his old high school, of the winter cup, of his family home and of his first and last heartbreak.

 ---

The streets of Tokyo didn’t seem to change with time. The brightly lit streets, standing the same as ever. The crowds, as wholesome as ever. The whole city was bustling with life, the buildings hitting him with a wave of nostalgia from the age of time. So much so that he couldn’t help reminiscing on the last time he had been here.

_“It seems this is the end, for a while.” Akashi spoke first, forever being the leader._

_The Generation of Miracles, all besides Kise had grouped together on the sunny afternoon of their graduation days. No one commented on Kise’s disappearance, maybe it was Aomine’s demeanour that made them steer clear of the subject entirely. It was funny how the blonde whined about how he would never get to see them again, but was nowhere to be seen today._

_The sunlight was making their shimmering hair colours even more iridescent as the sky changed from a warm yellow to a startling orange._  

_There weren’t many words exchanged, just sad expressions when they promised each other to call._

_\---_  

There was still time before he had to leave for practice so he found himself with an hour to spare.

Having little to do, he wound up walking to a basketball court. Finding it not the least bit strange that he was killing time with basketball before he went to basketball training. 

Maybe it was just the way Aomine’s mind worked.

Usually, the daily thought process of Aomine Daiki consisted of three things: The first being basketball, and anything related to the game itself. The second being Kise, still to this day he sees him in everything, just more… begrudgingly. The third being big boobs, freakishly huge ones, ones so huge that they-

Aomine swore.

He didn’t have his basketball with him, so he couldn’t play. Daiki opted for second best and took a seat on the concrete ground. Just being around the courts… It made Daiki feel like it was the only place he really felt at home. Even after the incident with Kise he couldn’t shake from his mind the rushing feeling that the space sent through him.

He wound up spending an hour, sitting under a hoop, watching the day pass by. Thinking about everything, but nothing in particular.

\---

“FUCK!” Aomine yells.

At some point in time, he must have fallen asleep and now the sky was growing orange. There was no way in hell practice was still in session.

“Coach is gonna kill me,” Daiki though aloud, stretching out his neck and yawning. He fumbled around in his pockets for his phone.

**(5) Messages From: ‘It’s coach, don’t answer.’**

**Aomine, where the hell are you?**

**Practice has started.**

**You better have a pretty good reason to be skipping again.**

**I’m burning your disgusting Horikita Mai books from your locker if your ass isn’t in here in ten minutes.**

**My fireplace is going to be extra toasty tonight.**

“No!” Aomine cried in a panic, “Those we’re limited addition! I had to wait hours to get her to sign that! No, fuck you coach I’m never coming back.”

Daiki kicked the pole beside him, damaging his shoes in the process. Knowing that that was a lie but being pissed off anyways. Usually he wouldn’t have cared about tardiness, but when they bring _Mai-Chan_ into the equation things get serious quickly.

He must have made a pinnacle of himself. A 6’3 man throwing a tantrum in the middle of a basketball court.

“Dammit!” He curses again. This day couldn’t possibly get worse... 

“You haven’t changed, Aominecchi.”

The words freeze him. His blood turns to ice, and his bones go stiff.  

That honey sweet voice.

That nickname.

He must be mistaken. This wasn’t the first time. Surely his mind was tricking him.

Surely-

He turned.

There he stood. Under a basketball hoop. A little bit older, his hair slightly longer around his eyes. His golden locks still shining like the sunlight.

Kise.

 


	3. Drunken Ramblings, Lead To Regrets.

Aomine is hit with a thousand memories all at once. Bombarding his skull with a fresh helping of old pain that rose to the surface, stinging more than ever before.

_Back when they were eighteen, under the basketball court._

_The crying, and the laughter._

_Kise’s soft hair between his fingers. The smell of cheap soap on his skin..._

_The memories that he held dear, but still more than anything wanted forgotten._

Daiki remembers it all so vividly it brings a new wave of hurt every time he thought on the past. There’s a lump in his throat, and an overwhelming rushing feeling that nearly brings tears to Aomine’s eyes. He fights them down with all of his will.

 His wounds had merely been glazed over, never to be healed and Kise had just ripped them open again with his sudden appearance.

The blonde stood before him, like nothing ever happened between them. Like he hadn’t ripped Aomine’s heart out of his chest and stomped all over the broken pieces.

Like he wasn’t at fault at all.

It made Aomine furious.

Swallowing every single word he had planned to say to him if the situation ever called for it. The man turned away from the blonde, beginning to walk away without a sound. Kise didn’t deserve the recognition Aomine was going to give.

‘ _He deserves nothing from me.’_

The dark haired basketballer is stopped by a soft hand on his forearm. The touch that used to feel electrifyingly beautiful only feels like needles against his skin. He flinches, and shakes it off, harshly, trying to get out of there as soon as possible. Kise couldn’t be here. He just couldn’t. He was a phantom memory that Daiki wanted to abandon. Seeing the blonde just stand there made Aomine feel like he just saw a ghost.

Aomine chanced another look at Kise. His features twisted into one of sadness.

The tanned man had expected an absurd amount of hatred to surge through him that would overpower the feelings he still held for the man… He had hoped that the second he saw the blonde again he would be hit with utter loathing.

It wasn’t the case.  

Aomine hated it.

“Aominecchi, stop for one second.” Kise cried in desperation. This was his opportunity to set things right. “I need to talk to you. I can explain everything!”

Daiki turns to him, unable to stop the harsh gush of words flowing from his mouth.

“I don’t want to know, I’m over it.” He lied, still not meeting the blonde’s eyes. Feeling he would crumble if he did. Kise had left his life that night two years ago, he didn’t expect he would ever see him again. But now that he was confronted with the blonde, he was at a loss for words, a feeling possibly known as anguish could best describe his situation. He was in a constant battle with himself whether to hear him out, or to reject him. To leave him just like the blonde had left him or to agree to his preposition.

“You wouldn’t be mad at me if you were over it!” Kise stumbled in front of him, stopping the basketballer in his tracks.

Daiki knew those words were true, that they held logic over them, but he was just so… angry. He couldn’t think straight.  
“Are you saying I’m not allowed to be mad?” Daiki snapped, glaring at the other man in front of him with eyes so fierce, the blonde took a step back.  

“N-no,” Kise stuttered. 

“It sure as hell sounds like you do.”  
“Please Aominecchi, I just want five minutes of your time.”        

“Maybe if you’d given me five minutes of your precious time, instead of leaving a shitty note. We wouldn’t be in this situation.” Daiki tried to hide the fact that his voice cracked at the end of it, but Ryouta definitely picked up on it. The basketballer cursed his inability to control his emotions, as he looked upon the blonde’s face.

An overwhelming amount of guilt floods into Kise’s golden features. Finally feeling the full effect of the situation. Kise had regrets for the actions of two years ago, he believed he was doing the right thing at the time. Leaving without a trace, moving further North into Tokyo, to Ikebukuro, finally taking his modelling career to the next level. He was starting to get noticed in the street now, only just being recognised as a celebrity. It felt amazing but there was still a piece missing.

And that piece was an old someone he came across under a basketball hoop, swearing like an immature teenager. The same boy he left during the night all alone.  

Once Aomine saw him, Kise saw the light go out of his eyes. He looked so pained it made Ryouta want to cry. He knew he should have told him why he left those years ago. He knew he should have but he just… couldn’t. As time went on, it became increasingly harder to pick up the phone. Seeing Aomine by chance this evening couldn’t have been anything except fate. Kise was visiting here for a nearby shoot and wanted to relax for a few minutes, of course he would go to a basketball court. Yet, instead of relaxed tranquillity, he was faced with the phantom that haunted him ever since he left two years ago. It was a chance, and he needed to seize it.

The feeling of self-hatred was a present one. Ryouta usually managed to push it deep down inside, but seeing the way Aomine looked at him. So heartbroken, so betrayed…

He did this to him.

Leaving like that, with nothing but a hastily scribbled note.

The blonde knew that the basketballer would be unhappy… but didn’t he think that Kise had a reason for leaving that night?

Surely Aomine didn’t think Kise was so heartless?

“Aominecchi…”

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps.

Ryouta felt his heart crack ever so slightly, “Why not?”

“The Kise I loved called me that. You and him… They aren’t the same.”

_‘Liar,’ the voice in Aomine’s head chided, ‘you just wanted a way to hurt him.’_

Daiki stared down the other man with an uncharacteristic cool indifference. He didn’t look like Aomine anymore. He looked, emotionless, detached.

Kise’s hatred for his actions burned brighter, he made Aomine act this way. This was all of his fault, and he deserved everything the man could throw at him.

Ryouta didn’t expect the comment to hurt him as much as it did.

Aomine’s words echoed around his head.

‘ _Loved.’ A thousand daggers hit the blonde straight in the heart._

It was too late, Kise had already suspected that. He knew Aomine probably hated him by now. In this situation, who wouldn’t? Their relationship was in shambles, non-existent, made up of old memories that were useless now. It was irreparable. Ryouta was stupid to think Daiki would be okay with him showing up like this, would willingly listen to him.

Daiki could almost hear the satisfying crack of the blonde’s heart. The words hit home for some strange reason that Aomine couldn’t comprehend. It wasn’t as if Kise loved him or anything.

“If it’s forgiveness you want, you’re forgiven. I don’t give a fuck.”

Today, Aomine couldn’t seem to tell a single truth.

And this one…

This one was the biggest lie of all.

Daiki turns on his heels and walks away. Feeling a lot more broken than usual. Boarding a train all the way back to Kyoto without caring about basketball, practice, coach, even his once precious magazines didn’t seem so big anymore. He didn’t want to go home, not now anyway. Not with Kagami and Kuroko doing all kinds of lovey dovey shit in front of him. He couldn’t take that right now.

He leaves Kise in the background and doesn’t look back.

Almost unconsciously Aomine finds himself in a bar. Drinking some kind of alcoholic substance that he couldn’t remember the name of. It didn’t matter anymore, it was doing the trick. He feels the warmth travel down his throat, the liquid stinging but fogging his thoughts. Numbing his mind so much he can’t think properly anymore. He sways to the side, feeling his vision blur. 

How had things gotten so bad?

“Stupid Kise,” he muttered to no one in particular, “I was fine until he showed up again, God dammit!”

Daiki couldn’t classify what he was feeling with words.

And it pissed him off to no end.

Naturally, he just wanted to forget. He takes another swig, feeling better with every drop.

\---

As he stumbles into the apartment, a little later than midnight. Kuroko is still awake, watching an American basketball game with Nigou perched on his lap. He doesn’t expect his entrance, the shadow and his dog looking at Daiki with curiosity.

“What are you doing here Aomine-Kun, what about the training camp?” Kuroko asks, a singular blue eyebrow raised on his stone cold features.

Daiki glanced at the man once before lazily kicking off his shoes.

“Don’t wanna talk about it…” Slurred Aomine, slamming the door shut with a little too much force for it to be considered normal.

“Who’s there?” A befuddled Kagami cried, thinking they were being robbed. Flying out of the bedroom door with a… basketball?

‘ _Figures.’_

“Calm down, Bakagami, it’s just me.” Aomine’s not sure if the words remain coherent, not that he cared anyway.

Taiga sniffled, still sick with the flu, “Huh? Aomine, the hell are you doing here? What happened to the training camp?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it…” He repeated, taking off his coat.

“Why are you intoxicated?” Kuroko asked from the lounge.

“Gah, so many damn questions with you people!” The dark haired man drawled. “If you wanna know, why don’t you go ask that fucker, Kise!”

“Kise?” The former team mates said in unison.

“That asshole! He came back, after two motherfucking years.” The intoxicated man yelled, earning a suspicious glance from his roommates.

It was true that Aomine had absolutely no idea what would come out of his mouth next. All he knew was that it would most likely be the truth. He recalls many a time when he had gotten punched for ‘telling the truth when the truth wasn’t wanted’ while intoxicated. Usually the tanned man could hold his tongue for brief moments, but when people brought alcohol into the situation. Aomine was the worst kind of drunk, and had zero filters whatsoever.

But it sure did wonders for getting things off his chest.

“Take a seat, Aomine-Kun.” Tetsuya gestured to the space next to him as Kagami plonked down on the side opposite him.

Daiki chose to do so in the easiest way he could. Bumping his leg on the coffee table a good five times before he made it to his desired destination.

“Tell us what happened, Aomine-Kun.”

“Stupid Kise,” growled Daiki, resting his feet on the soft grey carpet.

“Why is Kise stupid?” Kuroko asks, his training as a kindergarten teacher really kicking in. Aomine was practically acting like a five year-old.

A sad, drunk, cursing five year-old.

Aomine puts his face in his hands, almost coherent enough to stop the words falling out of his mouth.

Words he had told no one before.

Words he would most certainly regret in the morning.

Words he held in for all those other times because he had some self-restraint.

“Because he left me there!”

“Left you where?” Kagami questions the man, impatiently.

“Two years ago, he just left and wrote a note to me. Telling me all about how ‘it was a mistake’ and ‘I don’t know what I was thinking.’” Aomine mumbled miserably. Making no sense to the other two beside him.

“Start from the beginning, Aomine-Kun.” Tetsuya’s unwavering patience was commendable, it really was. It made Kagami respect the man more than he already did.

“Well, alright.” Aomine nods, oddly compliant when wasted. “I think it started in high school? I started noticing that I sort of wanted to bang Kise but like, I didn’t want to never talk to him again if I brought it up. So I kept quiet because you know, it would be kinda weird if your friend told you that he wants to have sex with you. But then!”

Daiki pauses, slamming his hand on the table in front of him.

“The semi finals of the winter cup came. I beat Kise’s ass, as usual, at basketball of course. Not the other way, though I did kind of do that… ANYWAY. He’s all gloomy and shit after the game because I won. He starts going on and on with all of this gooey shit about how he’ll never see any of us again. And I like, kissed him to get him to shut the fuck up because he was annoying me. One thing lead to another and I beat his ass again, but not the basketball way this time. Holy hell was he good at blow jobs. Anyway… then after everything, I wake up and he’s gone! And there’s just a note to tell me that he had made a mistake, that what we did was a mistake. I went to his house and everything but he had just vanished from the face of the Goddamn Earth! He played me, and broke my fucking heart. And now he shows up two years later trying to explain what happens. But it’s too late now! It’s not like I love him anymore… That was just a stupid crush.”

Aomine ends up face first into the rug on the floor after his little speech, wallowing in his own despair.

Kagami is at a loss for words. His mind is filled with so much information. Everything clicks into place. He remembers how messed up Aomine was after that game, but he just thought it was because he got injured or something.

It would explain why he fell into that slump for the last few games of their youth…

It all made sense now.

“Aomine-Kun, why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Kuroko asked, genuinely confused.

He doesn’t get an answer.

“Oi, Ahomine.” Kagami kicks the man lightly in the side, nudging him.

But to no avail, as apparently. In the space of less than a minute Aomine had finally passed out on the floor.

Kuroko sighs, “I hope he doesn’t throw up on the carpet.”

“After everything he said, and _that’s_ what you’re worried about?”

“I’m not surprised at all, Aomine-Kun and Kise-Kun did share a peculiar bond during middle school. I don’t feel shocked that they would eventually-“  
“Don’t say it.” Kagami cringes, he didn’t want to hear anything more about his rival’s sex life than he already had.

“Yet it is quite strange that Kise-Kun left without saying anything…” Kuroko placed a hand on his chin, pondering his own thought.

Kagami yawned, “Eh, it’s too late to figure it out now. I’m going to bed… You comin’?”

Kuroko looked upon the man on the floor with disdain, pondering whether he should drag him to his room or not.

He decides not to.

“I am,” Kuroko stands up and follow Kagami. Knowing full well of the hell that will arise when Aomine realises what he has just done.

 

 


	4. Alcohol & Secrets Don't Mix.

“Ugh, it’s so early.” Kagami groaned, pulling his giant hand up to shield his face from the sun peeking through the curtains. The effects of his irritating illness still making him sluggish. He hated not being able to play basketball. He was practically having withdrawals from not slam dunking a ball into a hoop. Every time he tried to sneak out of the house, Kuroko would catch him and he’d trap him in the apartment.

“Do we really need to get up now?” Taiga couldn’t help the fact that he sounded like a teenager on a miserable Monday morning.

Kuroko looked at the man with sympathy, “Yes, we do-“  
“FUCK!”

The muffled curse, signalled that Aomine had risen, and recalled the events of last night.

Tetsuya sighed, “Now we really do,”

Kuroko was hopefully planning to get some semi-coherent answers about the truth. There would be no brushing it off now, Tetsuya was fully aware of what Daiki was like when he got wasted. He couldn’t hide from the fact that Aomine had literally told him what he had suspected was happening. Kuroko was determined for more information.

He was prepared to take drastic measures for it.

And he meant drastic.

Meanwhile, Aomine opened his eyes to find Kuroko’s scruffy dog assaulting his face. He pushed the canine away with as much as strength as his hungover self could muster (which was close to none.) And sits up from his position. His back aches from sleeping on the floor.

His head felt like it had had multiple bricks thrown at it. Or a crane dropped on it.

Possibly both.

The recollection of last night came to him in small bits. Like a fuzzy dream that he could only half remember.

It wouldn’t be too long now until he….

Oh no.

Daiki cursed again, with more emotion. The whole day before was fully clear to him now. He really wished that it wasn’t.

He really needed to stop getting drunk so carelessly. What was he thinking? Did he not realise who he was when alcohol reached his brain?

‘ _Stupid, stupid, stupid!’ He yells at himself._

Daiki considered his options.

The fourth floor was a bit too high up to jump through the window.

He couldn’t afford a plane ticket out of the country.

He couldn’t pretend he didn’t remember, especially after his own reaction.

The basketballer sighed, truth seemed like the only option.

Kuroko emerged from the safety of his bedroom, Kagami following suit. Scratching his head and yawning irritably. Tetsuya regarded him with a look of understanding, his features going soft.

“I know that look, Tetsu. Don’t pity me!” Growled Aomine from the floor, the noise of his own voice sending drilling pains into his head.

“It’s hard not to, after everything you said.” Kuroko replied, taking a step closer to the man.

“It’s in the past, I don’t want to talk about it.” Daiki shrugged him off, turning to face the floor, his back to Tetsuya.

“Too bad, dumbass!” Kagami intervened in the conversation. Kuroko elbowed him lightly in the ribs, sending him a silent plea to allow him to handle this. Despite Taiga being a friendly enough person, he just wasn’t great with things such as these.

“Aomine-Kun, we just want to sort these things out.” Kuroko says gently, using his ‘kind teacher’ voice that he had somewhat mastered throughout the years.

“You heard the whole story last night, get off my back!”

“That isn’t true, there is still something I would like to know.”

Aomine turned to face his old shadow, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“Do you still love Kise-Kun?”

Aomine was taken aback with the blatant question, he really should have expected such bluntness from Kuroko but it still surprised him even now. He made a loud noise of surprise.

“Wha- No!” Daiki lets out in a quick breath.

“Please do not lie, Aomine-Kun.”

“I don’t love him anymore, God, if anything, I hate the bastard!” Aomine lies, the words he spits so far from the truth it’s ridiculous. It was instinctive of him to do such things, he hated letting such tender feelings be known to anyone but himself.

Especially after the first time…

Kuroko squints his eyes at him, adopting an entirely different demeanour. Daiki swears he sees an ominous cloud of smoke appear below him. Tetsuya’s eyebrows furrow as low as possible. Aomine can’t help but feel a little scared for his own safety.

Daiki had only seen him like this once, and the last time he was tempted to hire an exorcist.

“F-f-fine, I still like him, okay?” Daiki sneers, sounding not the least bit intimidating.

“Thank you for your honesty.” The black cloud retracts, making Kuroko appear less terrifying. Yet, still intimidating.

“It’s not like you forced me, or anything,” the tanned man growls, scratching his head in confusion on how the tiny blue haired teacher could possibly be that horrifying.

Kagami looks at Kuroko with a mix of fear and arousal and Aomine just groans. Now would be an opportune moment to escape… Aomine decides to make a break for it. Heading for his room, seeking solitude and nothing more. He doesn’t want to be questioned anymore, he just wants to be alone. He needs to think things over and not be disturbed anymore.

Kuroko lets him go, seemingly satisfied with one truthful answer. Reminding himself to talk to Aomine about it later, more privately. Somewhere where Kagami wasn’t currently looking at him like he was a mountain of burgers… it was very distracting.

\---

Daiki spends the majority of his day in the room, eventually finding the common sense to give an excuse to his coach. Claiming that he had contracted the flu from Kagami and was in bed. He couldn’t very well say, _‘sorry coach, this guy who I slept with once two years ago showed up and now he wants to explain why I didn’t see him again after I basically told him I loved him.’_

Aomine sighed, tucking his arms under his head, listening to the faint sounds of the city outside his window. He feel his eyes slowly close, the effects of last night catching up to him as sleep finally takes him, away from the dramas of reality.

\---

“So Kise’s back?”

Kagami’s gruff voice crackles over the sound of a frying pan.

“I suppose so,” Kuroko replies, lightly petting Nigou.

The pair find it safe to speak here, Aomine is still passed out in his room and there was too much to discuss to keep quiet.

Taiga sighs, flipping the omelette with a flick of his wrist.

“I thought that he would have contacted you. I mean, he always did seem to like you.”

Kuroko’s hands hold still. “Oh, he did.”

The redhead nearly drops the pan. “Huh?”

_‘Kise spoke to Kuroko?’_

“Yes, it was about a month after graduation. I got a text from him saying that he was okay, just that he got a job as a model in Ikebukuro and couldn’t make it to our little gathering.”

“Kuroko, what the hell? Why didn’t you tell anyone?”  
“I didn’t think it was that important. No one really brought it up.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Please mind your language, Kagami-Kun.”

“Kuroko, you didn’t think this was important?”  
“No, not particularly, I was only suspicious of his motives. But I did believe he would return someday. I had no idea it was why Aomine-Kun was so distressed back then.”  
Kagami sighed once again in exasperation. Adding more pepper to the egg combination, as he pinched his nose.

“Do you still have his number?”

A minute passed, presumably spent with Kuroko scrolling through his contacts.

“Yes.”

“Text him.”

“Why?”  
“We need to fix this… thing with Aomine.” His spatula scrapes along the pan, his back faces Kuroko so that his expression is unknown.

“I never took you for a matchmaker, Kagami-Kun.” Kuroko teased, his face as unchanging as ever.

“It isn’t like that, I just don’t like seeing Aomine so sad. He was in a really bad place after what happened two years ago, and it almost seems like he’s lapsing into that rhythm again.”

‘ _He was absolute shit at basketball too,’ Kagami thought idly._

“I do see your point…” Kuroko acknowledges, thinking back to those years ago. Aomine was quite… a mess.

“Kise wouldn’t do such a thing without a reason, and if Aomine doesn’t want to know. I kind of want to.”  
“It’s rude to pry, Kagami-Kun.”

The two-toned redhead looks at the man now, incredulous. “Please, you want to know as much as I do!”

Tetsuya remains silent for but a moment before releasing a defeated, “That’s true.”

He picks up his phone and begins to type.

Never before had he done this, he had no desire to. It was always Kise calling him, Kise texting him, Kise sending him irritating E-Cards during Christmas and his birthdays. Kuroko was fully aware it would be the last time for a while that Ryouta contacted him two years ago, and he was correct. It would be wrong to say Kuroko didn’t miss him, it would also be wrong to say that he did. Though the blonde was admirable, Tetsuya sensed he needed space, that if he tried to contact the sunny boy all he would receive was radio silence, and that felt wrong.

Now, the case may be different.

Kise had returned to life and Kuroko felt gears turning, changing.

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Kise-Kun, Aomine-Kun says he saw you, is this true?**

Kuroko sends him a simple text, almost like it wasn’t the first time they had spoken in two years.

He hardly expected to hear anything back, let alone a few minutes later.

“Is that Kise?” The red haired basketballer says all too eagerly, munching down greedily on his enormous pile of food.

“Yes,”

 

 **Kise Ryouta: Hi Kurokocchi!** **(** **ﾉ** **◕** **ヮ** **◕** **)** **ﾉ** ***:** **･ﾟ** **✧** **It’s been a while!**

Tetsuya clicks his tongue… Kise’s avoiding a confrontation.

“Well what did he say?”

For answer, Kuroko showed him the phone. The tall basketballer grabbed at it, snatching the phone from his grasp as he reads the message.

“What do we say back?”  
Kagami ponders the questions for no more than ten seconds before he moves his fingers to type.

**Kuroko Tetsuya:  Don’t avoid the question, Kise!**

Tetsuya makes no effort to retrieve his phone, only gazing at the device in the redhead’s hands. Waiting for the next move.

 

 **Kise Ryouta: Kise??? YOU NEVER CALL ME KISE** **ლ** **(** **ಠ** **益** **ಠ** **ლ** **) Is this you Kagamicchi??**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Yes, NOW ANSWER THE QUESTION.**

**Kise Ryouta: Why do you have Kurokocchi’s phone??? (** **ಠ** **_** **ಠ** **)**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Because I took it from him, now answer us!**

**Kise Ryouta: I can’t.**

The lack of irritating emoticons startles the two of them.

This must be serious.

 

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Why the hell not?  
Kise Ryouta: I don’t want to cause Aomine anymore trouble...**

Aomine, not Aominecchi.

Something was really wrong.

Kuroko and Kagami were determined to hear both sides of the story.

 

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Look, Kise, he told us both when he got wasted what happened. We know a fair bit, you ain’t causing him anymore trouble then what he did to himself.**

**Kise Ryouta: If that’s true, I suppose I wouldn’t mind letting you hear my side of the story. Aomine refuses to hear me out, maybe you could help him understand.**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Then will you tell us?!**

**Kise Ryouta: Not in text, I want to meet you somewhere, both of you. Where do you guys live again?**

 

Kuroko finally grabs the phone from Kagami, using an old technique from his misdirection. Taiga makes a squawk of surprise, nearly falling off his chair.

After all these years… Kuroko could still scare the shit out of him.

 

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Are you an internet predator?**

**Kise Ryouta: Huh?! No!! I’m Kise Ryouta.**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Please prove you are, ‘Kise-Kun.’**

The reply took longer than expected.

**Kise Kun: I’m twenty years old and have blonde hair. I am a model and I have two older sisters. I hate earthworms and Unagi…**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Alright, just making sure, Kise-Kun, I took the phone from Kagami. Sometimes he can be stupid and give out our address to internet predators.**

Kagami scowls at the man, “That was one time!”

**Kuroko Tetsuya: We live in Kyoto with Aomine-Kun.**

**Kise Ryouta: No kidding! I have a photoshoot there in three days, can we meet up then?**

**Kuroko Tetsuya: Three days is good, I’ll text you the details later.**

Tetsuya shuts his phone, satisfied with the outcome of this encounter.

Finally, there would be two sides of the story. Not just a sad, biased, drunken one.

 


	5. Nightmare.

Aomine is woken up later in the day by a very pissed off Kagami.

“I’ve been calling you for dinner for fifteen minutes!” He growls, poking him with a spatula.

The metal digs into the man’s skin as he slaps it away.

Daiki groans, “Not hungry,” which is a lie.

The tanned man hears something along the lines of, ‘fine, asshole, I guess these teriyaki burgers will have to go to waste.’ And his decision is instantly changed.

Maybe it was because Taiga felt sorry for him, it was most likely a pity dinner, not that Aomine particularly cared what Kagami thought of him.

“Oh I guess, I’m a little hungry.” Daiki mumbled, slowly pushing off the bed to stand. He scratches his head and yawns. The basketballer glances at the clock, which clearly reads 5:30 in blockish red letters. He swears, angered at himself for wasting the entire day away.

Kagami huffs, still standing impatiently at the doorway. Aomine bites back a comment about how he looks like a suburban soccer mum who wants their kid to clean their room and brushes past him.

“Where’s Tetsu?” He asks, as soon as he’s at the bench. A simple question that he doesn’t particularly care about. Daiki shoves a burger in his mouth as he waits for the gruff reply from Kagami.

It tastes better than anything else in the whole world.

Daiki silently thanked God and everyone else for the wonder that truly is the teriyaki burger.

“He’s eating dinner with Akashi…”

Aomine chokes on his food, very nearly spitting the precious burger out.

“Akashi? _Akashi,_ Akashi?”  
“That’s the one. He’s back in Japan for a few days and thought to make a little call to Kuroko” Kagami sighs, the sounds of a scraping pan being heard throughout the apartment.

Something had obviously angered the other basketballer, and Aomine was certain it had to do with Kuroko’s absence.

Daiki didn’t particularly want to reflect on his own relationship problems so maybe asking Taiga about his was the way to go.

It’s not like he had anything else to do anyway.

So with the must subtlety Aomine could muster (which was none) he utters a quick.

“Jeez, who crapped in your cornflakes?”

“Akashi did,”

Aomine snorted, not expecting a direct answer but happy to have it anyway. “At least you’re honest.”

Kagami makes no effort to reply, so Aomine speak for him.

“It’s not like you and Tetsu are dating or anything, right? You were like… what’s the name? Friends with benefits?”

He looks through the corner of his eye at his redheaded rival. Taiga sighs again, putting his hands in his face.

“Yeah, but like, I don’t even know why I’m angry. Everything is so complicated.”

Aomine groans, no matter how much he avoided it. He couldn’t stop thinking about his current relationship drama. The Kise situation would always come back to bite him in the ass.

He brought this on himself. Who wouldn’t think about their own relationship when someone was talking about theirs? 

“Like, one day we just started having sex in the locker room and I don’t even know what happened next-”

“My silence was not a cue for you to continue.”

“And then all of a sudden he’s like _‘we should live together’_ and I’m like _‘what the hell?”_ ”

Kagami didn’t seem to be listening whatsoever.

“So Kuroko tells me it’s because it’s cheaper to be roommates, so I guess that made sense. But why do we sleep in the same bed?”

“Shut up, Kagami.”

“I mean, I guess it saves space but, has he ever heard of bunk beds? Actually, you can’t have sex in bunk beds. Believe me, we tried one time at training camp and we both nearly died.”

Daiki puts his burger down in distaste.

“But, I can’t stop thinking about him. We never really talked about our relationship.”

It seemed like everyone in this household had communication issues.

“So why does this thing with Akashi piss me off?”  
Taiga was voicing his thoughts aloud, completely ignoring Aomine’s pleas for him to shut the hell up.

A thought struck Daiki.

He grinned.

‘ _That would definitely shut him up…’_

Aomine musters up his most serious voice, trying his best not to crack up laughing as he said.

“Maybe you’re in love with him.”

Kagami stops talking.

The burger in his hands drop, almost dramatically. His red eyes widen in shock.

“Holy shit…”

Taiga looked to be having some kind of revelation.

The revelation that was pretty obvious to everyone else.

“Yeah it’s a huge surprise.” Daiki barks sarcastically, taking another bite of his food.

Kagami hides his face in his hands, his mountainous pile of cooling food going forgotten. Which was extremely odd for the basketballer.

Aomine couldn’t care less as he reaches over the man to yank another burger from his plate. All he wanted was some peace and quiet, and with that achieved, he was fully content with eating his favourite food in silence. Even if there was a startled redhead beside him.

Daiki happily took another munch of his burger, scowling at the wilting yellow flowers that Tetsu refused to throw away in spite of Aomine’s comment.

“I HAVE TO FIND HIM!” Kagami cries after about ten minutes of pure bliss.

Aomine forgets that Taiga wasn’t just an unmoving object and is notably startled. Choking on his food for what feels like the tenth time today, as he clears his throat.  
“You’re gonna what?”  
“I need to go!” The basketballer cries determinedly, rushing around looking for keys and a suitable jacket.

“Go do that then, lover boy.” Was Aomine only words of approval, finding it exceedingly difficult to be happy for the other man.

Maybe he really was selfish, but seeing Kagami in love with Kuroko, made Aomine daydream about how it could have been with Kise.

How it should have been.

The man scowls at his thoughts. They were nothing new, but seeing Kise again adds some extra salt in the wound.

Taiga is out of the door in a flash, shouting out a hasty ‘goodbye!’ While bumping into every piece of furniture they have.

The door slams, and the tanned basketball is left in silence.

Aomine finds himself alone again, with those stupid yellow tulips.

\---

The basketballer lies on his bed. Twirling Kise’s earing in his hands. It was a gesture he did regularly when no one was around. He had no idea when he had started it, yet, it felt so natural.

‘ _Why do I still have this?’ He thought idly._

It had been about an hour since Kagami went in search for Kuroko, and Aomine had been left with his own thoughts.

He was so desperate for a distraction that he almost texted Taiga, asking him how it went.

He didn’t.

The tanned man sighs, so much had happened, but he still felt empty. He found it odd of himself to want nothing more than peace and quiet, but still want a worthy distraction.

A strange contradiction, indeed.

There was so much to go through in his mind, yet Daiki didn’t want to linger on his thoughts for too long.

Kise was around again.

Did that mean he would see the others too?

Aomine didn’t know if he could bear seeing the others if _he_ was there too.

Kise had ripped a hole in his life.

His entire mind, day in day out.

‘ _I wonder if Kise is okay.’_

_‘I wonder if I said something different, the situation could have changed.’_

He wanted the blonde out of his life, yet he was still as prominent as he ever was.

Even more so with that little appearance.

Aomine still wondered if he did the right thing.

Maybe there actually was a reason Kise left?

‘ _No…’ Aomine shook off the thought._

_‘If there was a proper reason he would have told me before…’_

The only possible conclusion for two years ago was that Kise had done such things for spite. For he was upset that he had lost, for the final time. The blonde had wanted nothing more than to hurt Aomine.

That was the only logical explanation.

The voices in his head were at war with each other. One side being stubborn, the other reasonable. Aomine didn’t know who was right.

The man sighed, his brain still aching from the after effects of all the alcohol he had consumed. The basketballer collapses into his pillow. Searching drastically for a completely dreamless sleep.

He doesn’t find it.

_“Aominecchi!” Kise calls, his hands waving in the air as he runs towards the man. His blonde hair dusted with sand and waves lapping at his feet. The sunshine brightens ever so slightly as he gets closer._

_“Kise…” Daiki hears himself utter, the words feeling fake in his mouth._

_All of a sudden, an enormous wave comes and knocks the blonde down._

_Aomine’s cries become more urgent as Kise gets dragged into the sea._

_The blonde looks at him with those golden eyes, so pleadingly, so helplessly._

_“Save me!” He cries, as his head dips under the ocean._

_Daik tries to move but his feet won’t budge._

_He screams in frustration, kicking out with his legs to free himself of the phantom restraints._

_All that it does is make him sink into the sand._

_He sinks further and further… grit filling his mouth as he screams for Kise._

_Something undeniably clear breaks through his panic._

_The faintest whisper, Aomine swears he hears it by his ear._

_His name, over and over again._

_And then._

_“Come and save me…”_

Daiki wakes up drenched in sweat. His heart is pounding in his chest as a swell of panic is overwhelming him.

Pulling his hair in his fists, uttering over and over that it was just a dream.

He could still feel the sand beneath his feet…

The feeling of being buried didn’t leave him as he left the room for something, anything else to do.

Aomine lazily glances at his clock on the way out, noting that it was some ridiculous hour as he closed the door. The stubborn eeriness of the apartment did nothing to help his mood.

Daiki had figured that at least one of his roommates would have returned. 

Yet he finds no one.

The basketballer feels trapped in his clothes, in his skin. Almost like there’s something festering inside him.

It’s a feeling none too relaxing.

Without any moments more of hesitation he strips and practically falls into an ice cold shower. The freezing water letting his brain breathe, finally allowing him to think.

He steadies his breathing, scowling at himself for the harsh reaction.

It had only been a dream.

Yet, how come it meant so much to him?  
Did it mean anything?  
Was Kise in trouble?

Aomine shuddered, unsure whether it was the temperature or his mind. The basketballer furrowed his eyebrows, trying his best to clear his mind of anything related to Kise. It was something he was getting the hang of. He could go nearly a whole day without thinking of the blonde sometimes.

However, at night, when he was alone with his own thoughts. The tanned man found it difficult to get rid of those stray thoughts that floated into his head.

He heard a smashing on the door, his thoughts being rudely interrupted.

“Aomine? What the fuck? It’s 3 am!”

“Shut up.” The man yells back lazily. Apparently Kagami at least, had returned from his little adventure.

Aomine was sure he would get an earful of it later, if he wanted it or not.

He hears Taiga growl something unintelligible, and footsteps.

Daiki turned the tap right, silencing the rushing stream of aqua. His body dripping wet, and his mind as cloudy as a stormy winter sky.

His thoughts were a muddle, but he pushed the ideas in his head away. Aomine couldn’t afford to think that way.

He would just get hurt again.

 


	6. Suspicion & Love Confessions.

_It began at some point during his final year of high school._

_It was just another night at practice, when Kise swore he heard something. A rustle in the bushes… The blonde was sure of it._

_But when he went to investigate, there was nothing to be seen._

_At the time Ryouta had shaken it off, dismissing it as some kind of animal lurking around._

_A really, big animal._

_“Is something wrong, senpai?” A first year was heard calling his name._

_“No, nothing at all.” Kise gave him his usual plastic smile, grabbing his bag from the place he had discarded it. Heading to his home._

_The blonde missed having someone to walk home with, it was always rather lonely without anyone to talk to. He found himself constantly reminiscing on his days back in Teiko, as well as having a hankering for convenience store brought ice creams._

_The lamp lit streets were empty as he crossed through the roads, whistling to himself to drown out the deafening silence._

_That was when he heard something…_

_Footsteps, this time. Quiet footfalls on the cement pavement._

_Ryouta quickened his pace, having no intentions of being robbed, or something of another nature._

_The stepping grew louder, but Kise couldn’t find the will to look back. They were heavy, most likely a man’s._

_The blonde began to sprint back to his house, unaware of the stranger’s intentions, only hoping to make it back to safety on time._

_“Kise-San, please wait!”_

_The voice startled him, it froze Kise in his place. Only then turning to look at the person pursuing him._

_The boy stood before him, around the same age as Kise, maybe older. He wore his hair long, in a black ponytail that curled around his face nicely. His eyes were the colour of blue, the very same shade as Aomine’s._

_Kise shook off the thought, he had been thinking about that basketballer far too much lately._

_Ryouta stood in silence, expecting the teen to follow up with some explanation on just why he was chasing him._

_The boy held an odd, aura about him and how he carried himself. He hunched over as he stood there, fidgeting, Kise could only describe him as creepy._

_The word wasn’t a kind one, yet it fit so well._

_Kise was suspicious of the man, though he didn’t appear violent, his lanky form seemed menacing._

_“I am terribly sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just, I have seen you in magazines and got a little carried away…” His voice was spindly and shrill and reminded Kise of a spider._

_The blonde nearly crumbled in relief._

_“You sure scared me there!” Kise laughed the situation off, a weight being lifted off his shoulders. It had only been a fan, the blonde nearly fell over in solace._

_The basketballer chastised himself for looking at the cover, not the book._

_“Can I help you with anything?” The basketballer adds, flashing the stranger his pearly white smile._

_“No, I just wanted to confirm that you were Kise Ryouta.” He grinned back, his hand extended in a wave. “I’ll be going now,”  
Sooner than later, the teen had gone off, in a flash. _

_Kise stood there dumbfounded._

_What an odd encounter…_

_\---_

_The sun had barely risen and Kise was out at a basketball court again._

_His eyes had just gotten adjusted to the atmosphere, as he dunked another ball. He was alone in his activities, no one had shown up to practice yet._

_Out of the very corner of his eye, he spotted something. A small, black patch outside the window. The blonde made a curious noise, stepping out of the gym to investigate._

_His shoes crunching in the gravel marked the only sound around Kise. He felt his chest rise and fall as he scanned the area, looking for something out of the ordinary._

_He saw nothing._

_Ryouta called himself crazy and went back inside._

_Little did he know that there was in fact, someone out there. He watched the teen with peculiar obsession masked eyes, as he crouched down low, watching._

_\---_

_His skin crawled, at the sight of the teen, at the sight of his target._

_He hated him, he hated him, he hated him._

_A lock of his blonde hair rested on his night stand. He glared daggers at it, wishing for it to burn. He wanted the hair to burn and alongside it, it’s owner._

_Kise Ryouta._

_The name of his downfall, of his failure._

_It had been a year since the incident that brought on these actions, yet the teen’s anger burned even brighter than it did before._

_The blonde hadn’t even recognised him._

_The man still felt the agony of losing, the humiliation of being beat by someone younger than him. It was all Kise’s fault that the scouts had been watching THAT particular game. It was Kise’s fault that they had lost interest in him. It was Kise’s fault that they discarded him like a pile of trash._

_His future had been ruined, and he wanted vengeance._

_And he planned to get it anyway possible._

_\---_

“Why the hell were you showering at three in the morning?” Kagami called, his furrowed eyebrows being made out through the darkness. He was sitting on the couch, apparently waiting for Aomine.

“Because I do what I want,” Daiki yawned, he could already feel the dark circles appearing beneath his eyes.

Taiga groaned at the answer, he had anticipated words such as these. But it didn’t mean it hadn’t pissed him off.

“Thanks for the advice, by the way.” The redhead muttered bitterly, pressing his face angrily into a pillow. “It worked like a charm…” He added, sarcasm dripping from his words.

Aomine sighed, raking a hand through his damp blue hair. He didn’t really care at all about the other man’s love affairs, but he sure as hell didn’t want to go back to his room right now.

If he did, he knows he would hear Kise calling out to him.

He vaulted over the head of the couch, landing with a dull thump on the lounge. Motioning for the man to continue with his ramblings.

“I couldn’t find Kuroko…” Kagami didn’t need another gesture for him to speak, he was planning on doing it anyway. “I checked the restaurant, but they must have already left…”

“Uh…. Sucks, dude” Aomine was about as sympathetic as a drill sergeant.

Not that he was intentionally trying to be an asshole…

It was just in his nature to act this way.

“I guess it was for the best, he probably didn’t feel the same way… It was a rash decision, I’m kind of glad it turned out this way…”

Daiki was immediately reminded of himself. Sitting bolt upright on the couch, he stared down his team mate.

“That kind of thinking is what got me two years of heartbreak, and all the hell that came with it.”

Taiga blew air out from his nose, a strange tick that he did when he was mulling things over.

“So are you saying I confess to him anyway? Even after he went home with Akashi?”

“Why the hell not?”  
“It will make things weird.”  
Kagami had a point there, this whole conversation brought back so many memories of Aomine arguing with himself.

“It’s better than bottling shit up and aging it like a fine wine, such as myself.”

“True, I don’t want to end up like you…”  
“Hey!”

“You know I’m right.”

Aomine made a noise, signalling to Kagami that he had won this round.

He would never admit that the man was correct, however.

That just wasn’t Aomine Daiki.

“Speaking of which… You ever gonna speak to Kise again?”

Kagami seemed to be blatant as ever.  
“Ugh…” Aomine moaned, he had anticipated Taiga talking his ear off about HIS OWN repressed love life, not Aomine’s.

“No.”  
“You don’t even want to try understand his point of view?”  
The redhead sounded like he was trying to convince Daiki to talk to Kise…

The dark haired basketballer was far too stubborn and bitter to do so.

There were still too many wounds left untended, too many things left unsaid for too long.

“I don’t want anything to do with him…” The tanned man lied, placing an arm over his eyes.

“What if he had a really good reason for… leaving like that.”

Aomine shifted, looking down on the ground as he spoke.

“Do you know how many times I’ve said that to myself? ‘Maybe he had a decent excuse for leaving me alone?’ Too. Fucking. Many. If I really did talk to him, I’d just be setting myself up for disappointment…”

Maybe it was because it was 3 am, or maybe it was because Aomine had never spoken about this to anyone. But the basketballer felt something strange as he gushed out all these words. His sleep deprived state was about as honest as his drunken one, apparently.

“Ugh, I wish real life was like those stupid ass fairy tale books…” Kagami muttered, it seemed he nor Aomine could figure out the fault in such things as relationships.

Perhaps they could learn together.

\---

The morning brought new hope, and a fresh idea.

Kagami heard the quiet click of the front door opening. It stung more than he thought knowing why Kuroko had returned this morning instead of last night.

“Mornin’ Kuroko.” Taiga says half-heartedly. He couldn’t be angry at the small shadow for something he didn’t know about. Even if he wanted to, it was unethical, and also something Aomine would probably do.

“Hello, Kagami-Kun, how was your evening with Aomine-Kun?”

“Peachy.” He replies, sarcastically. “How was your… evening?”

…Maybe he couldn’t mask some of the bitterness.

“Quite uneventful…” A small reply was heard from the kitchen, a whisper of Kuroko’s voice.

‘ _Uneventful?’_

“Considering you didn’t return last night, I’d have to say it was _pretty_ eventful.” The basketballer accentuates ‘ _pretty_ ,' knowing it would probably irritate Kuroko.

Tetsuya narrows his eyes. “What are you implying, Kagami-Kun?”

Was Kuroko really that oblivious?  
No that couldn’t be it. The man almost seemed like he knew everything.

“I think you know what I’m implying, Kuroko.” Taiga shot back, he tried to reign in his jealousy but all it seemed to do was come up behind him and hit hard when he least expected it.

‘ _Stupid Aomine, making me realise my feelings…’ Kagami thought hopelessly._

 _‘I wish he hadn’t said anything at all.’_  
“Are you trying to subtly ask if I had sexual relations with Akashi-Kun?” Kuroko made it sound like he was asking if he wanted eggs on his toast.

Tetsuya stared at Taiga, his light blue eyes meshing with red as neither one of them spoke.

Kagami gave in, unable to stand the silence.

“Yeah… I guess I am…”

 

Aomine had never been thankful for the paper thin walls in this apartment, and he probably never would be. This time, however, it was an exception.

The basketballer was bored out of his mind. He didn’t even have the will to play basketball. He felt drained even though he did nothing but lie around all day yesterday.

That was when he heard his two roommates speaking in the kitchen.

Aomine recalled the shoddy advice he had given Kagami and cringed.

This couldn’t possibly turn out well.

‘ _Eh, at least it’s something to do…’ he reasoned with himself, straining his ears further to hear the conversation._

Kagami seemed to still be pissy about Kuroko’s disappearance last night, and was confronting the shadow about it. Despite himself, Daiki listened in further.

“Yeah… I guess I am…”

 

Kuroko felt Kagami’s eyes on him, watching every breath he took.

“You would be incorrect.”  
Taiga looked at the blue haired man incredulously.

“But you didn’t come home last night!”  
“After Akashi-Kun and I parted ways, I got stuck in traffic, I decided to pull over and sleep in a nearby hotel.”

 

‘ _Plot fucking twist.’ Thought Aomine, knowing full well that this was the truth._

Maybe it was all those years of middle school with him, but Aomine could just tell.

 

“Besides, I couldn’t sleep with Akashi-Kun, there’s someone else I love.”

 _“_ Who?” Daiki heard Kagami cry, the dark haired man suppressed a groan. Taiga could be even denser then himself sometimes...

Most of the time, actually.

He felt the pause in the mood, Kuroko was choosing his words carefully. Almost as if he was hand picking them from a treasure chest.

“It you, Kagami-Kun.”

Unexpectedly, Aomine blew out a sigh of- what felt far too close to relief.

“REALLY?” Kagami all but screamed.

“Please refrain from shouting so close to my face, Kagami-Kun.”

“Really?” Taiga repeated, the slightest bit quieter. Daiki could hear the nervous excitement in his voice. A flare of jealousy welled up in him, Aomine cursed himself. He should be happy for them. Yet he was still caught up in the past.

“Really,” Kuroko confirmed.

Kagami whooped in the air, the thumping on the floorboards confirming the action. Everything had worked out beautifully and it felt like the basketballer was walking on air.

“Does this mean we’re like, dating?”

“I suppose it does,”

What Aomine heard next reminded him of why he hated the paper thin walls of his home.

Daiki groaned, searching frantically for headphones, or a pillow. Something so he didn’t hear another, ‘Oh yeah’ or ‘Nghhh.’

Finally uncovering a dusty pair of earbuds, he puts them on and clicks on the first song that appears.

Finding comfort in the lyrics, and the drowning out of all other ‘noises’ around him. The soft melody of a song he’d long forgotten wafted into his mind as Aomine drifted off to sleep again.


	7. Phantom Attacker.

_“Oh hello, Kimoi-Kun, how lovely to see you! You’re just on time, as always!” An aging blonde woman greeted, smiling up kindly at the man. She did appreciate his visits, they did contribute greatly to the quality of her day. His tactfulness, wit and friendliness really did make her happy._

_“Hello, Kise-San, it’s great to see you too.” The man had lied, his skin crawled in disgust._

_This woman deserved to burn too._

_For bringing life to the pest that was Kise Ryouta._

_He fought down a scowl, his kind façade making up a friendly aura about him._

_This was all part of his plan… This, master plan that he thought about. Every detail was important._

_Kimoi Kumo entered the Kise household, his eyes wandering over every piece of memorabilia they had. He had grown quite accustomed to the floor plan, to every nook and cranny of the place. He knew it from back to front and every way in between._

_He felt eyes wander, anyway. Looking something new… something he could pick apart._

_Scanning for any signs of his target._

_“Ah, does your son play basketball?” He asked nonchalantly, already knowing the answer she would give. Kimoi probably knew more about her son than she did._

_“Ah yes, Ryouta does! He was part of the Generation of Miracles!”_

_Kimoi’s insides curled up inside him every time he heard that stupid title._

_‘It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.’_

_“Oh, how lovely.” The words tasted of acid in his mouth. Every word he was saying was a blatant false, every action he did was a farce. This was not the real him and she would never know._

_A wicked grin graced his lips as she turned away. The curve of the woman’s lips lifting up gently as she walked back into the kitchen._

_‘Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting.’_

_“I’ll just get on with my work, then.” He smiled, biting his tongue so hard he felt the metallic taste of blood_

_“I appreciate it, Kimoi-Kun.”_

_He had no intention of doing his job, one of which he hated. A simple house cleaner in his father’s business. As it so happened his interested in the family business perked when he found a familiar name on the waiting list._

_He scowled at the dozens of photos adorning the wall._

_Every person Kise touched was filth, below scum._

_The blonde had ruined his life, his reputation, his chance at a future and he had audacity to be happy?_

_With heavy steps he made his way up to the target’s room. Knowing full well the boy wouldn’t be there, he was at school after all._

_He would use all that he found against him, he found something new every time._

_Upon his mantel, this time, was a photograph of Kise and another. Someone important to him, by the way the blonde was looking at him._

_Kimoi recognised him as the Generation of Miracle’s ace. One by the name Aomine Daiki._

_The tanned boy gazed at the blonde with a strange affection in the photograph. You could tell that the ace was thinking about him as he snapped the shot._

_How his eyes glazed over… Those dark blue irises filled with-_

_It was at that point that Kimoi knew his plan must be set into action._

_The ultimate revenge._

_He had been waiting all this time… Watching the boy who stole his future. Gathering everything he needed against him._

_Now was the time, the opportune moment._

_The cruellest curve of his lips showed his satisfaction._

_All of his pieces were finally in play._

_\---_

_“Ryouta, there was some mail for you today!” The basketballer’s mother called cheerfully from the kitchen, her honey sweet voice seeping through the walls of the house._

_The blonde sighed, ‘probably fan mail.’ He thought with disdain._

_The increasing number of colourful envelopes he received on the daily was increasing. It showed him how famous he was really getting. Kise wasn’t quite sure if he found the letters to be burdens or flattery._

_It was possible that it was somewhere in the middle._

_‘How did they find my house?’ was another notion that came to mind._

_The blonde had been careful not to tell people his address…_

_Quickly brushing off the stalker-ish idealisms, Kise brought his finger across the envelope. The paper fraying as he scratched the opening._

_Hazel orbs widened as he read the writing before his eyes._

**Y O U   W I L L   B U R N   F O R  W H A T  Y O U ’ V E   D O N E.**

_The blonde stared at the words typed upon the page, aghast._

_It was certain he had received mail such as this, yet it still affected him. It scared him. He would take irritating love confessions a thousand times over in exchange for this._

_The basketballer’s heart pounded in his chest, the chilling grip of fear pushing at the back of his throat._

_The letter felt like lead in his hands._

_There was something about this particular one._

_The way the words displayed themselves, the cutting edges of the writing, the fact that it was retrieved from outside his house, not the post office._

_It sent shivers down his spine._

_Whoever wrote this knew where he lived._

_“Is something wrong, Ryouta?” His mother appeared through the hallway, a concerned look gracing her soft features._

_Kise flinched ever so slightly, cringing at how suspicious he looked to be._

_The basketballer pocketed the note, taking a second to compose himself._

_“No, everything’s great.” He plastered on another synthetic smile, the ends of his mouth twitching ever so slightly. A crack in his façade that his mother had luckily not noticed._

_People only did this to scare him._

_It was only a note, nothing could go wrong._

_There was no need to let his mother worry over nothing._

_The person who made this wanted a reaction from him. They wanted him to act._

_It was exactly what Kise decided not to do._

_\---_

_Kise’s walks home grew haunting. He checked over his shoulder constantly._

_The distance which once felt lonely, felt eerie now._

_He hated that the letter affected him to this extent, he hated that he couldn’t just shake this one off like he did with all the other ones._

**Y O U   W I L L   B U R N   F O R   W H A T  Y O U ’ V E   D O N E.**

****

_The words were seared into Kise’s mind twenty four hours a day, in the back of his mind._

_The letter was teasing him with the ominous threat._

_But what had he done exactly?_

_It baffled Kise, what the hell did he do to make someone this angry?_

_He searched his mind for something, anything he had done recently but came up with nothing._

_‘It was probably just some troll…’_

_‘The words were generic, something someone could easily come up with. Probably stolen from some detective movie no one cares about anymore…’_

_With those thoughts in mind, the blonde’s strides grew once again less timid. That reasoning was perfectly correct, that was the only way this could all make sense._

_His paranoia had quelled and Kise was willing to believe he would easily forget about that trifling note._

_And he did, the thoughts in the back of his head faded into nothingness._

_That is…_

_Until the next letter appeared._

_\---_

_A sunny Saturday afternoon and for once Kise wasn’t at practice. He’d come home early only to find another envelope addressed to him._

_Alone in his house, the blonde was curious._

_Tearing open the letter in anticipation, Kise welled down the thought of another threat._

_‘It couldn’t be…’_

**M I S S I N G  T H I S ?**

_A silver earing dropped out onto the floor._

_‘It couldn’t be…’_

_Kise rolled the ring in his hands, turning to the side. Praying to whoever was out there to let it be a coincidence._

_Icy dread gripped him._

_There it was, the engraving that proved that the item was, indeed his._

_This was the very same earing he had gotten from his parents._

_The very same one he had thought he’d lost a year ago._

_Ryouta bit back a scream, never feeling more terrified in his own house before._

_They had been in his house._

_They knew where he lived._

_They wanted to hurt him._

_And Kise had no idea why._

_\---_

_From what once was immense hatred and nothing more had turned into a burning obsession._

_He lived to make Kise Ryouta’s life a living hell._

_His feelings were a cocktail of every emotion possible and Kimoi couldn’t decide which the most prominent one was._

_Was he jealous?  
Was he sorrowful?_

_Was this some twisted love he felt for the man?_

_There was no need to look further, for he didn’t care to learn._

_All that mattered was Kise._

_‘Kise, Kise, Kise…’_

_He was a two faced joker with far too many wicked tricks up his sleeve._

_He wanted to see Kise squirm with discomfort, to scream in agony._

_This was no longer a petty revenge game for him._

_A long-time of stewing through things in his head made him delirious. It made him mad. His head was a jumble of hatred and obsession, yet he could compose it so well under the puppet strings of society. It was all for the better that he wore a civilised mask in public. It was all for the better that Kise had no clue who he was._

_Well, for now, anyway._

_Kimoi found himself grinning again as he wrapped his spindly limbs around himself._

_His plan would work, there would be no stopping it._

_He would destroy Ryouta Kise._

_But he’d have a little more fun first._

_\---_

_“Kise-Senpai, what’s wrong? You seem jumpy today.”_

_Proving the first year’s point, the blonde jumped at the sudden noise. “Eh?” He blurted out, surprised._

_“You keep checking over your shoulder, too.” The boy looked at him with unmasked suspicion._

_Ryouta gave the younger teen a shaky smile, “Oh it’s nothing, there’s just a particularly… enthusiastic fangirl after me…”  
The boy in front of him chuckled at that, “You always have been good with the ladies, Senpai.”_

_Kise forced a laugh, “I sure am!”_

_‘Too bad I can’t flirt my way out of this situation…’_

_Usually in tough times, his boyish charm and good looks could get him out of practically every situation. Whether it was late homework or convincing Aomine for another one-on-one he got away with practically everything._

_But how could he flirt with a phantom, a deity. An ominous threat he had yet to see the face of?_

_It had been two works since he had received the second letter and radio silence seemed like the worst torture of all._

_He almost wished for another letter just to get it over with._

_He had gone straight back to paranoia after receiving the earing in the letter. He hardly felt safe in his own house, it was ridiculous._

_And yet, he still couldn’t tell his parents._

_Kise just felt they would cause more trouble than they would help._

_Don’t get him wrong, the basketballer loves his parents as much as the next person but sometimes they can be… Far too dramatic._

_Maybe he could tell Kuroko… Or Aomine…_

_Maybe his sisters?_

_They always have had his back, through thick and thin. Even though they teased the life out of him, they cared for each other._

_Surely they would be of help to Kise right now…_

_His thoughts of help were vanquished as the next letter finally arrived in the mail the next day._

_\---_

_Kimoi really prided himself in every single letter he sent the blonde, but this one, this one was one of his personal favourites…_

_\---_

**Y O U  H A V E  A  L O V E L Y  F A M I L Y . . .**

**Y O U R   S I S T E R S   A R E   Q U I T E  B E A U T I F U L.**

**E V E N  W H I L E  T H E Y  W O R K  T H E Y  S E E M  E L E G A N T.**

**I ‘ L L  K E E P  T H I S  B E T W E E N  Y O U  A N D  M E , B U T . . .**

**T H E Y  W O U L D  L O O K  L I K E  A  M A S T E R P I E C E  D R E N C H E D  I N  R E D.**

**P E R H A P S  T H I S  S E C R E T  S H O U L D  S T A Y  O U R S.**

**O U R S  O N L Y...**

 


	8. There Would Be No Happy Ending Here.

_Things had gone from bad, to worse._

_Kise no longer felt safe anywhere._

_He feared for his family’s wellbeing, he was terrified to leave the house alone._

_But he was even more horrified in his own home._

_There was no haven he could go to anymore… Every place he knew of had been sullied by the treacherous stink of an anonymous person that made no effort to reveal his identity._

_The dreaded letters kept coming, Kise lost more sleep than he gained._

_The winter cup kept coming, the blonde threw himself into training._

_The only time he could pass out was when he was exhausted._

_The endless black abyss was what truly comforted him._

_It was the only one that truly knew all about him._

_He had been forced into secrecy by this phantom person. Not to tell a soul about the predicament he was in._

_Kise kept his mouth shut, his smiles plastic and his façade worn thin._

_Ryouta found himself using anything as a distraction._

_He played mercilessly through each game of basketball. Obliterating every opponent he crossed._

_Every single one._

_That is, until…_

_“Next, we verse Touou!” Kaijo’s coach declared, the permanent sheen of sweet on his face shining like it had a mind of its own._

_For the first time in a while, Kise grinned for real._

_It was the last time he would face Aomine, he had to make it count._

_He would push all other thoughts aside, his fears would have to wait._

_His last letter had been weeks ago… Maybe they had finally gotten bored of this little game. Maybe they had given up._

_Kise’s thoughts were his only motivation. They were the only things convincing him not to give up, to give in to the fear and never leave his room. To become a hermit, a shut-in, too afraid of the world around him to venture outside._

_Kise couldn’t let that happen to himself._

_He needed to be fully focused for this game, or he would be crushed._

_The blonde found himself training even harder than before, the threats shoved to the very back of his mind. Aomine and Touou had proved to be a very helpful distraction that Kise hoped would keep up until the game._

_Ryouta pictured the defeated look on Daiki’s face as he finally lost to the blonde, it would be priceless. After all this time, he would finally claim victory from the tanned teenager. It would be now or never._

_There would be no regrets, either way…_

_\---_

_“I’m planning on winning this time, Aominecchi.” Kise remarked slyly, his voice as smooth as silk. He had trained far too hard to be let down. Ryouta would be victorious, he would finally win._

_Aomine’s lips curled into his usual smirk, a character trait that the blonde found unusually endearing. “As if!” He quipped, “The only one that can beat me, is me.”_

_Their final game together. The last time they would play as rivals._

_Kise felt a pang in his heart as the blue haired man turned away from him, getting ready to start._

_Would he ever see him on the court like this again?_

_\---_

_Kise had felt the sting of loss many times before, but this time it hit extra hard._

_The extra stress he had shouldered only seemed to add onto the horrible feelings inside of him. He felt everything at once and nothing made sense anymore._

_His life was crumbling to pieces and there was nothing left to hold onto anymore._

_The hard wooden floor had never felt so cold before, his bottom lip trembled. The tears he knew were going to spill at any moment were being quelled by sheer will power._

_He felt a shadow surround him and for an oblivious moment thought that it was the phantom letter writer. The black figure he always saw in his nightmares. Had they finally come to take what Kise held most dear?_

_The blonde looked up from his spot on the ground, expecting the worst but finding the best._

_Aomine stood there, his handing stretched out towards him._

_Kise felt an immediate sense of déjà vu, the first year game all those years ago. Kasamatsu-Senpai had been the one to carry him then. To calm him down as he felt hot tears streak down his face._

_Now that he had graduated Kise hadn’t really known who would pick him up if he fell._

_But there Aomine was, standing above him. The light behind him making his features look even more pointed, even more beautiful. The gesture was unexpected, almost completely out of character. Yet without another moment’s hesitation. He felt his body move on his own, grasping at the large hand in front of him._

_It was hard to describe the electrical shocks that the contact sent through Kise’s body. It was a simple touch and that was all it took. Ryouta had not the slightest clue why it was Daiki that made him feel this way. All he knew was that he didn’t want this moment to end._

_The letters that seemed to fill his mind were tucked away and all he could see was Daiki._

_Though Kise had lost, the blonde felt he had at least achieved a small victory of his own. Just thinking about the fact that Aomine had decided to push past his pride and help him up sent shivers down his spine._

_The pain of losing had worn him down, but Aomine had pulled him up._

_“Good game, Aominecchi.” Without thinking Kise smiled, it was something he always did to stop any other emotions coming through. There would be time for the later anyway._

_\---_

_The locker room was suffocating him, the people around him were everywhere. He felt crowded and defeated, his last game of the year had been one with Aomine. And that game, he had lost._

_Would there really be any more of the generation of miracles?_

_Without talking to anyone, Ryouta escaped into the night to think. The cold breeze making his golden hair fall to his face._

_Kise naturally moved towards a basketball court. Almost unconsciously, he felt his insides contract as soon as he caught sight of the hoop above his head._

_Soon enough, the tears he had been wanting to hold in arose in his eyes. They prickled his skin and felt hot falling down his face._

_It could have been hours, minutes, seconds that he spent in that one spot. He wouldn’t have noticed. He was trapped in his mind but thinking of nothing in particular. Just brooding and feeling sorry for himself, such ugly emotions… Kise was ashamed of himself._

_“Oi Kise, the hell are you still doing here?”_

_The blonde felt himself freeze._

_\---_

_Everything was a blur of emotion, one that Kise couldn’t regret._

_He recalled spilling every thought in his head to Aomine._

_There was a lot of crying._

_And then…_

_Then…_

_Aomine’s lips on his, his hands in his hair. The heat emanating from their grinding bodies…_

_Kise sat bolt upright, blinking. He was impatient to look at his surroundings. To ensure that this wasn’t all a dream._

_He made out an outline of someone else beside him. Blue hair and tanned skin. Entirely naked for the world to see._

_“Holy shit…” Kise swore in amazement. Why was he this giddy? It’s not like it was his goal to get laid by his former team mate._

_The blonde agreed that there was some unresolved tension… but definitely not of this kind…_

_Though, now that he thought about it…_

_Yes, he certainly did think of Aomine far too many times in a day for it to be normal._

_Yes, he was physically attracted to him._

_Yes, he knew him better than anyone else._

_Yes, he saw him in the dark blue hue of the ocean, in the storm clouds, in the midnight sky. He thought all those things didn’t quite capture his essence though. There was something far more… unique and beautiful about him then the crashing waves. Yet Kise never could figure out just what it was. He was grumpy most of the time, and kind of an asshole but Ryouta couldn’t seem to care. It was almost endearing the way he scowled at everyone. Which was crazy, what kind of weirdo would get butterflies in their chest whenever someone called him an ‘idiot?’_

_The facts seemed pretty clear to him on that warm midnight inside Aomine’s room._

_Okay, maybe he was in love with him._

_But what happened now?_

_Were they a couple or was this just a onetime thing? Was Kise just a one night stand to Aomine? Was that all he meant to him?_

_No, that couldn’t be it…_

_The way Daiki looked at him that night was something Ryouta had only seen in movies. It was so pure and tender and so entirely not Aomine. Yet, it felt so real._  
Could this possibly work out?  
Kise raked a hand through his tousled blonde hair as he tried to get his thoughts in order. He looked down at the sleeping basketballer and bit back a laugh. Even in his sleep he was still scowling.

_A sudden buzz of his phone alerted him, it pulled him back from brushing a stray hair from Aomine’s face._

_‘Who could possibly calling at this hour?’ Kise pondered, maybe it was his parents…_

_He looked to the clock by the bed, affiriming that it was, in fact, some ungodly hour to be calling._

_The phone didn’t seem to be stopping any time soon, Kise certainly didn’t want to wake Aomine up either._

_Without another thought, the blonde picked up the phone with a groggy ‘hello’ that he hadn’t been expecting._

_“Now, now, Kise, sleeping with your opponent… What a dirty trick…”_

_The voice carried malign, there was nothing friendly about it._

_It rose and dropped like a breezy afternoon before a hurricane._

_It was spindly like a spider, and teasing like bully._

_This was, without a doubt, the person who had sent all the letters. It was his anonymous attacker, he had a voice now. He was no longer a figment of his imagination._

_Ice cold dread gripped Kise, he felt his stomach drop and his heart pound. Fear coiled around his heart, tugging him down to the dark abyss he once thought was comforting._

_Letters were one thing, but calling?_

_“Wh-what do you want from me?” Ryouta felt the question tumble out of his mouth in a flurry of fear._

_“Fucking anyone that comes to your aid… My, my… I might just have to save you next time.”_

_“Why did you send me those letters?”_

_“Aomine Daiki, quite the player I see… He skips practice far too much though.”_

_How did he know that?  
The blonde felt sick to his stomach, horror coiled around him. It was suffocating him. He couldn’t breathe. _

_“A-answer me!”  
“Quite a nice house he has, it would look lovely covered in flames.”_

_Alarm bells went off in Ryouta’s head, telling him to run, to get the hell away from all of this._

_“What did I do to you?”_

_“You may want to close the curtains next time, Ryouta._

_Actually, strike that…_

_There isn’t going to be a next time._

_Lover boy might not be so inclined to share a bed with the person that snapped his arm in two._

_It would be quite difficult to play basketball in that condition…”_

_“No!” Kise harshly whispered, he felt terrified, his lips trembled and the blonde felt his eyes water. Threatening Ryouta was one thing._

_But threatening the people he loved?_

_“I’ll do anything… just leave him alone.”  
“I will hurt those around you, Kise Ryouta. Make no mistake.”_

_“Please, no.” The blonde begged with the voice on the other line, pleading with a faceless threat, more menacing than ever before._

_The haunting sound of the line being dropped would stay with him forever._

_Everyone he cared about… Everyone he loved… They were in danger while he was here._

_They would be hurt if he didn’t… disappear._

_‘His sisters…, His mother, his father…_

_Aominecchi…’_

_They were all at risk being in his presence, they would all get hurt if he wasn’t careful._

_He needed to go._

_Somewhere, somewhere faraway._

_He needed to quickly._

_It was cowardly, for certain, but Kise just didn’t have the courage to confront this faceless attacker where he stood currently. He had far too much to lose._

_Maybe Aominecchi would wait for him._

_Maybe after all of this blew over, he would call the basketballer and explain._

_Maybe he could have the happily ever after he dreamed of once the evil had perished._

_Daiki might hate him by the time this whole situation was done, but it was his only choice._

_He would leave a note, something that lead on to nothing. Something that would make Aomine not want to follow him._

_He needed to hurt him._

_Kise’s pale hands shook in fear as he scribbled out a note on paper. Every extra second adding more risk that the enemy would take his silence for stubbornness._

_Ryouta felt frightened and burning hatred at the same time._

_He feared the phantom, yet wanted him destroyed._

_The man was a mystery that the blonde didn’t want to uncover, but wanted solved._

_Life just wasn’t as easy as that, evidently._

_Standing from his perch on the bed, Kise took one last look at the basketballer. At his love._

_It would be the last time in a long time that he would see him again._

_Maybe the blonde’s words from last night, those babbling, rushed words really had come true. Maybe this was the very last time they met._

_Kise couldn’t stop tears from falling down his face for the umpteenth time that night._

_If it kept Daiki safe… He didn’t want to see him again. He would be happy to be a fading memory in the tanned boy’s mind if his security was ensured. He would comply with the spindly words on the other side of the telephone._

_‘I will hurt those around you, Kise Ryouta. Make no mistake.’_

_If there were no people around Ryouta, no one would get hurt. It was a logical thought._

_“I’m sorry, Aominecchi,” Kise’s apology caught in his throat. The words feeling empty and like a husk of what they were supposed to be._

_No matter how hollow, however. Ryouta couldn’t help but hear the tiniest slither of hope sliding through the cracks in his voice. The sweet tasting resolve that Kise would get through this._

_He would play this little mind game for however long it took._

_The blonde would get stronger, surround himself with the protection he needed. And only then would he finally be able to fully reconnect with the people he loved._

_He touched the sleeping teen’s cheek, a final sob escaping from his chest before he was silent._

_“I love you…”_

_The paper felt like iron in the blonde’s hand as he placed it beside the other basketballer._

_This would buy him time… If not an eternity._

_He would keep Aomine and his family safe, but he wouldn’t see them for a long time._

_It was a fate he regrettably accepted, a fate that made an anger ever so fierce brew within him._

_This wasn’t permanent… It couldn’t be…_

_No, it wouldn’t be._

_Sitting up from the bed, he made his way to the door. Flinching at the cold metal door knob as he turned it. He didn’t look back one last time, the memory of Aomine’s sleeping face already burned into his mind._

_The night air brought on stone cold realisation from Kise._

_He would be abandoning everything he knew, just to keep them safe._

_A chilling wind nipped at his nose, pacing across the street in search of his house. He would be out of there before sunrise._

_It was strange, but Kise felt safer than he had in the longest amount of time…_

_Maybe he just didn’t care anymore._

_A chilling grin appeared on his face as he shouted into the night._

_“COME AND GET ME YOU FUCKER, I’M READY FOR IT.”_

_The words sounded as broken as Ryouta felt, they cracked on every syllable._

_To the residents around him, he must have sounded like a drunk. Long overdue for a trip to his house or a gutter._

_Hardly the case._

_His attacker had likely already ran off somewhere, and was nowhere to be seen._

_He could be possibly observing from a distance._

_Yet, the blonde didn’t care if he watched from afar._

_‘If he wants me, he can have me.’_

_At least Kise would have closure…_

_\---_

_Ryouta left with only minor traces he had ever been in his house._

_The note he set aside for his family was clutched in his hand. He set the piece of paper down on his place at the dining room table._

_The words he scrawled out were nothing special, just a simple letter explaining he had to go for a while. That he would be back soon, and that he would call as soon as he possibly could._

_He was eighteen now, old enough to fend for himself._

_Goodbyes were so much harder in person, it was better this way._

_Hauling a duffle bag up his shoulder, the blonde took one last glance at his home before walking to the train station._

_\---_

_Three months had passed in what felt like clockwork._

_By that time, he had gotten into contact with not only his family, but also Kuroko._

_Tetsuya was the one most likely to understand, Aomine definitely didn’t want to talk to him. Especially from the way the blue haired shadow spoke of his wellbeing. ‘He has been looking like death incarnate these days’ was the phrase Kuroko used, to be precise when the blonde asked how his former team mates had been doing._

_Maybe it would be better if he held off on Aomine for a while…_

_Just to let him cool down a bit…._

_The Kise residence were livid about his disappearance of course, but Ryouta quickly endured their harsh scoldings, just happy to hear their voices again. He told them not to worry and quickly dodged their questions about his whereabouts, for he wasn’t sure how safe he was quite yet._

_“Just trust me, okay?” He remembered saying after the asking had gotten far too overwhelming._

_It was true, he had missed the graduation ceremony at Kaijou, technically meaning he didn’t graduate. It was something that only crossed Kise’s mind as of late. Though, in his family, studies weren’t all that important to them. His father was still rather irritated he hadn’t made it past a high school level of education._

_He was forced into silence when Ryouta told him about his job, his apartment. How he had been earning enough money to support himself._

_And with a promise to call once a week, the blonde said farewell to his family. A wry smile on his face._

_Things weren’t exactly bad._

_In fact, things had been a lot better than Kise had originally thought._

_With a face like his, it had been easy to get a high paying job in Ikebukuro by himself. He had even been getting more modelling jobs lately. His future was set in place, and he found himself feeling rather relaxed._

_The threats grew fewer and fewer, his attacker had apparently followed him here. The blonde had expected him to do so._

_But the menace had nothing on him while he wasn’t surrounded by friends or family._

_He didn’t have the same access to information as he used to._

_Ryouta had made sure to take all incriminating things with him that night. So even if the phantom did somehow break into his family home, he wouldn’t find anything to hold against him._

_But every so often…_

_Kise still felt an immense amount of fear when he walked streets alone at night, yet it was usually quelled by the time he got home. It became a norm for him to look behind his back walking home, to double check he had locked his door. The situation had made him paranoid, more cautious. It matured him ever so slightly._

_\---_

_After another year and three quarters… the letters stopped abruptly. It created a strange sense of quiet around Kise, he didn’t know whether to be relieved or prepare himself for an oncoming storm._

_Maybe he had finally gotten bored._

_Finally noticed he couldn’t hurt him anymore._

_He had broken this toy enough and had lost interest._

_Ryouta would gladly remain oblivious as to why he was doing such things, if he could keep the peace…_

_“Kise, you have a shoot in Tokyo this weekend, make sure you don’t forget.” His manager called, his grumpy, commanding voice reminding Ryouta of Kasamatsu._

_He held a heavy amount of respect for his manager, he had been the first person he told when another letter had arrived. Telling him this time if he called the police, his tongue would be sliced off._

_It was strange but Ryouta was almost desensitised to it by now._

_They had only been acquaintances but Kise had spilled everything to him. Once he saw the contents of the letter._

_He was apparently very good at doing such things._

_His manager had left what to do with him, saying it was his responsibility. ‘If you didn’t want to call the police, I won’t blame you. But this is some messed up shit.’ Was the phrase he used when Kise asked what he should do._

_“Tokyo? I haven’t been there in ages…” Kise breathed, pushing away memories he’d much rather forget._

_\---_

_Kise groaned in exhaustion, the shoot had lasted far too long for it to be considered fun anymore. All he wanted to do was sleep._

_Stretching his arms and yawning the blonde made his way across the street._

_He spotted a basketball court and smiled fondly._

_How long had it been since he played basketball?_

_He had been so busy Kise hadn’t noticed…_

_Almost unconsciously the blonde made his way over, seeking the calming solace of the towering hoops._

_It was then and there that he heard a strangely familiar voice._

_His heart stopped._

_It couldn’t be…_

_“Those we’re limited addition! I had to wait hours to get her to sign that! No, fuck you coach I’m never coming back.”_

_No, it was definitely him._

_Kise watched in awe as a familiar figure cursed, kicking a pole in frustration._

_“Dammit!” The man growled._

_Aomine, Aomine was here._

_Aomine Daiki._

_It had to be fate. Why else would they be here at the same time?  
He had to talk to him. _

_He had to see if he hated him._

_He had to know if things could change between them._

_“You haven’t changed, Aominecchi.”_

_The old nickname tasted bitter sweet in his mouth, this was the first time he had uttered that name in two years._

_Daiki stiffened, he turned and Ryouta saw the worst possible look on his face._

_Kise knew at that moment it was far too late for apologies._

_The blonde had been broken by an evil phantom, and in return Kise had broken Aomine._

_Oh how cruel it was to think fate had drawn them together for a long and happy reunion._

_This was probably karma for all the shit Kise had undoubtedly put Daiki through._

_As they struggled with their broken words, Kise knew he was right._

_There would be no happy ending here._

 


	9. A Planned Reunion (For Once.)

“Where are you guys going?” A yawning Aomine questioned, scratching the back of his head as he ungracefully flopped onto the couch.

Kagami stiffened, his back muscles clenching frigidly as he wracked his brain for something to say.

He really was a terrible liar.

The blue haired man beside him stepped up to the plate.

“We’re going to go get Kagami-Kun some new basketball shoes.” Kuroko answered quickly, his face as stony as ever.

The words flowing out of Tetsuya’s mouth were generic falsities, an excuse that popped into his head the second Daiki had asked.

They were not, in fact, going shopping. The couple had actually planned to meet up with Kise in a café just fifteen minutes away.

It would be better for Aomine not to know. God could only tell what hell fire the tanned basketballer would rain upon them if he found out they were fraternising with his ex-something-or-other.

Daiki made a noise of distaste, obviously not having an interest in joining them. Which, Kuroko was relieved for.

The man had been sulking around the house for almost three days now, it was getting ridiculous, all he did was scowl at inanimate objects and lock himself in his room. The whole Kise situation had knocked him down a peg, Kuroko could tell. He didn’t even want to play basketball.

That meant something was _drastically_ wrong.

Kuroko frowned at his old light sprawled out on the couch.

“Aomine-Kun, the team gets back from Tokyo in a week, shouldn’t you at least be doing a little exercise?”

“Yeah, coach will be even more pissed if he found out you were just lying around at home.” Kagami added, his eyebrows furrowing in disgust at his team mate.

Tetsuya’s eyes glinted in amusement. Taiga was quite the hypocrite, apart from shooting hoops down at the street basketball court, all the redheaded basketballer had been doing was lying around also.

“Fuck off, Kagami, I am doing exercise.” Aomine mumbled, a pillow pressed against his face.

“Oh yeah? Last time I checked, being a pissbaby didn’t count as exercise!” Kagami shot back.

“I don’t see why you two can’t just go to Tokyo now…” Kuroko sighs, fed up with their antics.

“I have the flu.” Taiga complained weakly.

“Kagami-Kun, you’re over that and we both know it.” Tetsuya gazes up at the man, slightly confused at why he would refuse basketball training.

“Yeah, Kagami!” Daiki childishly called from the sofa.

“Why are you still here? You could go to Tokyo!” Taiga growled back.

“There’s no fucking way I’m go back there, especially while HE’S there.” Aomine pouted, his eyes going cloudy.

Little did he know, the blonde was a lot closer than he thought.

“All I’m saying is that you should try and go outside, Aomine-Kun.” Tetsuya scolded, glancing at his watch. “We have to go, Kagami-Kun.”

Being pulled from their juvenile argument, the two basketballer’s huffed and looked the opposite way from each other.

“Right, right…” Taiga nods to himself, pulling the front door open as he gestures for Kuroko to go first.

“How gentlemanly of you, Kagami-Kun.” Kuroko doesn’t hide his smile as he walks outside.

Daiki scowled at their affection, turning to the other side of the couch where he could no longer see the couple. He knew that Kuroko had a point, he really should be getting outside. And it would be a lie to say that his fingers didn’t itch to have a basketball in his hands.

Regardless, Aomine spent the rest of the morning feeling sorry for himself, which was currently his favourite thing to do.

_‘Stupid Kise…_

_Stupid Kagami…_

_Stupid Kuroko…’_

Daiki didn’t seem to realise he was blaming everyone but himself.

Not that he cared anyway.

\---

Kise played with his hair nervously, he wasn’t one to do such things usually, but there was something frightening about telling his friends. Sure, he had told people before, one person actually, but he was nothing more than an acquaintance. It is far easier to find comfort in a stranger where they don’t have the right to judge you.

The blonde was oddly early this morning, so his other two companions were temporarily absent. The whole situation was a little crazy, Kise Ryouta, getting antsy about social confrontation? Ridiculous.

Still, he played off his feelings with a fibre glass smile that everyone else believed as they walked past.

Leaning against the wall outside the café, the blonde was prone to be stared at. He had expected this much, now usually he would love the attention. But today all it did was increase his nerves.

He saw an unmistakeable, tall red head and his eyes widened.

“Kagamicchi!” Ryouta called, waving his arms about like a mad man.

Red eyes met golden as they caught sight of each other.

“Kise.” Taiga nodded, moving his large body over to the blonde.

Kagami looked to be the same as ever, almost as if high school was all but a month ago. It was a refreshing sight to see, it practically felt like Kise had just seen the light yesterday.

The next thing he noticed, was an absence of his shadow.

“Where’s Kurokocchi?” The blonde asked, his blonde eyebrows arching curiously.

He scoped the area, knowing full well that the boy could disappear in plain sigh-

“I’m right here, Kise-Kun.”

“Ack!” Kise let out an unattractive noise.  
The blue haired boy seemingly appeared out of nowhere right beside Kagami, leaving Kise thoroughly shocked. Even after all these years, the shadow still lacked much presence at all.

The blonde made another surprised noise, and maybe a tiny, shrill scream. Before practically diving towards Tetsuya.

“Kurokocchi!” Kise sang, nearly tackling poor Kuroko over with his strange affection.

He had missed those two, it had been far too long. They seemed to be in good health, and as good of friends as ever. It warmed Ryouta’s heart to know they stuck together even after graduation.

“Please stop, Kise-Kun, I can’t breathe.” Kuroko struggled, tapping on the blonde’s arms politely to tell him he was suffocating.

Kagami grabbed Kise, his expression one of distaste as he lightly pulled the man away from his boyfriend.

“I see you’re the same as ever.” Taiga spoke, frowning.

Was it just Ryouta, or did the redhead seem extra grumpy today?

Could it be that he was jealous?

Maybe things had, in fact, changed while he was gone?

Ryouta squinted his eyes between the two, looking for any possible evidence to use against them.

“I see you too are… The same.” Kise grinned at them mischievously, putting a finger on his chin, making him look like he was sizing the two of them up. The blonde had seen it being done in an old British investigator show. However, the gesture made him look more like a dork than a detective.

Taiga cleared his throat awkwardly, “can we eat now? I’m starving.”

“Sure, we do have a lot to talk about!” Kise smiled, his expression masking how nervous he was about the situation.

He would play it off as something that was no longer a big part in his life. That it didn’t keep him up at night. That he didn’t hate the phantom threat with a burning passion.

Kise was practically a master at putting on a mask for public. It was a skill he excelled at, but almost wished he didn’t. No one could see through his façade, no one could see that he needed help. 

No one could see that he was still picking up the pieces of the heart he left behind that night.

\---

“Kise-Kun, I appreciate your etiquette but if you would get to the reason why you left Aomine-Kun.” Kuroko had run out of patience with his old team mate. Ryouta had been dodging questions left and right even though he had agreed to see him.

Maybe he wasn’t ready to tell them after all?

Kise clenched his fist, angry at himself for being difficult, but knowing how tricky it would be to speak about his situation to someone he was close to.

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” The blonde averted his gaze, a strange action for someone as confident as himself. The scene turned unusually serious, Kise frowned.

Ryouta’s breath hitched as he gasped for a large breath of air.

He had to tell them.

He had to let them know, for Aomine’s sake.

Even if it was over for him and the basketball player, he at least wanted Daiki to understand he didn’t do it out of spite.

He did it out of love, out of fear for his safety.

This was something greater than hurt feelings or cowardice, it was Aomine’s wellbeing that was in danger. He was untrusting before this incident, who knows what he would be like if this went on.

Kise had to push away his fear, he just had to.

“It… started, when I got this letter in the mail…”

With shaking breaths, Ryouta spoke. His sentences grew stringier, his eyes drew further down to the ground. He didn’t want to see the disapproving gazes of his friends. They would think him a coward for running away from his problems, wouldn’t they?

His mind grew darker as he relived everything from the past two years, the threats, the letters, the earing. It was truly like a dormant terror, which only seemed to rise as the model spoke.

What would they think of him after this?

Would they take his side?

Or would they sympathise with Aomine?

Daiki had every right to be mad, Kise knew that, but would Kuroko and Kagami ignore the truths that Kise spilled out to let him stay that way? Aomine very obviously didn’t want Ryouta back, but he certainly wasn’t over it.

The blonde prayed that maybe the pair in front of him could talk sense into the stubborn man.

He hoped that all this talking wasn’t in vain, because where would he go after this?  
What would happen, if nothing happened?  
It was a possibility, yet Kise didn’t even want to think about such things.

He had to believe things would turn out okay.

\---

Ryouta took a breath after speaking so long, he was known to be chatty at the best of times but this was new even for him. Maybe because this time as he spoke, his words won’t covered with plastic falsities and small talk.

Kagami looked stunned, Kuroko was frowning.

Kise had expected reactions of the sort from those two.

“Kise-Kun, so you left, _for_ Aomine not _because_ of him?”

The phrasing of the words seemed, peculiar, but Ryouta supposed the shadow was correct in his speaking. Daiki was a major part in why he left, of course there was also his family, but Tetsuya already knew that.

“Yeah, I guess…” Kise mumbled, scratching his head while he bit back a nervous laugh.

“Holy shit.” Kagami whispered, his red eyes wide.

“Don’t swear Kagami-Kun,” chastised Kuroko.

“No, but like, all of this happened and Aomine doesn’t know about any of it.” Kagami looked mildly horrified with all the information that he had to take in.

“That’s why I need you to tell him for me.” Kise’s golden eyes held a serious glint as he looked straight at the two of them.

“Why don’t you tell him yourself?” Kagami asked, stuffing a burger in his mouth.

“I tried to, but I think he still hates me.” Kise said miserably, his gaze turned foggy, the blurry sign that he was going to cry. Tears pricked his eyes as his mouth turned upwards, willing them away with all of his might.

Kagami and Kuroko exchanged a look.

“Of course, we will talk to Aomine for you, but if he doesn’t listen to us. We might need you.” Taiga kept his gaze on the blonde the entire time, making the scene rather unnerving.

“But he doesn’t want me.”

The sentence made Kuroko frown once more.

Kise couldn’t possibly think that Aomine didn’t want to contact him…

Then again, Daiki did have an… unorthodox way of communicating.

Tetsuya spoke softly, his voice a gentle, yet sincere whisper. “That isn’t the truth, Kise-Kun.”

“What do you mean, Kurokocchi? He basically told me he never wanted to see me again.” Kise resisted the urge to hug his knees like a child. He didn’t really feel like dwelling on this topic any longer than he had to. He had expected that they would ask questions, but this was certainly strange.

Ryouta was certain that the pain he saw in those dark blue eyes couldn’t be healed by him.

He was certain that all that burned between them was unrequited hatred.

Kise knew Aomine better than anyone else, so how could he be wrong?  
“Aomine’s a fucking idiot when it comes to feelings, the only times he speaks about them is when he’s piss-drunk.”

Kagami’s poorly worded statement rang truer than a wind chime.

“Kagami-Kun is right, Aomine-Kun can never really convey his feelings very well.”

Kise gave them a wry smile, “I don’t know, he seemed pretty certain.”

Even then, the blonde began to doubt his own words.

Maybe with Kuroko and Kagami by his side, he could hope.

Maybe in time, they could convince Aomine to hear him out.

Maybe…

No, it’s too early to hope for foolish things. Kise realised that now.

The most he could ask for is that Kuroko could relay his story to Daiki.

At least then, Aomine would have a viable explanation for what happened two years ago, not just a few hopeless ‘maybes’ that amounted to nothing.

“Don’t worry Kise, we’ll talk some sense into him!” Kagami grinned at him, looking oddly sympathetic towards the blonde.

Maybe it was because not so long ago, communication issues were a current thing in Taiga’s life.

Ryouta flashed them a platicine smile, as he took a timid sip of his coffee. “Thank you, Kagamicchi… Kurokocchi. It was good to see you guys again.”

Kuroko responded with a slight noise of agreement, taking a drink from his own cup.

The model was desperate to change the subject, he had spoken for far too long and he felt his thoughts growing clouded. He had grown tired of his own voice, a feat Ryouta never thought would be possible.

Besides, Kise was desperate for information.

“So are you guys dating?”

Kagami gagged on the mouthful of burger he held in his mouth, his red eyes blown wide in surprise as he nearly fell off his chair.

Sure the question was surprising, but did the redhead not think it was obvious?

“How did you know?!” He spoke through his shock, trying to regain composure.

Thus, Ryouta’s suspicions were heartily confirmed.

“When I hugged Kurokocchi, you looked like you wanted to kill me!” Kise answered, feeling himself smile another, genuine smile. “Kagamicchi never did that before!” The man added as an afterthought.

“It is correct, Kagami-Kun and I are together.” Tetsuya’s straight forward response was appreciated, considering Taiga still looked like he was choking on a bit of his hamburger.

“I always thought you two had something going on, I guess I was right.”

Kise couldn’t help but feel a little jealous, that could have been him and Aomine if the past was tweaked ever so slightly.

Yet, he still felt glad that the pair of them found happiness.

They always were a great shadow and light…

The trio of old friends spent the duration of their time at the café speaking of nonsensical things after that.

Kise learned that Aomine had been their roommate ever since graduation.

Kagami and Kuroko learned that Kise lived in a high rise, by himself in Ikkebukuro.

There was so much they needed to catch up on, but hardly the time to do so.

They exchanged farewells. Ryouta told them to be careful as they walked home, who knows when that psycho could be watching.

Kise had let himself see them again, but at what cost?

Even if it was necessary to explain to Aomine, would it cause Kagami and Kuroko danger?  
The blonde sincerely hoped not.

“We’ll be sure to knock some sense into Aomine!” Taiga seemed surprisingly upbeat about such things, probably excited to have an excuse to argue with Daiki.

Not like they usually needed one anyway…

The blue haired shadow gave the model a small smile, telling him to text regularly to make sure he was okay.

Ah, how it felt good to see his friends again.

He was thankful to have run into Aomine in that basketball court. Despite the events being gloomy and miserable, it had lit a fire in Kise. One of fierce determination he hadn’t felt for a long time.

The gears in his life were finally functioning again, and would be moving on their own accord.

Kise only hoped it didn’t turn out so bad this time.

 


	10. The Only One I Need Is Me.

_The clock struck midnight, and a cold winter darkness spread through Kise’s bones. He lay awake and staring up at the ceiling. His mind was far too lively to even consider sleep at this moment. Kise was thinking of approximately everything all at once._

_One thought struck him as important, for some reason._

_The young blonde thought rather long on how different his second year of middle school was to his first. How he had found basketball, and brand new friends to match._

_Then with a bitter melancholy he thought of how next year would be everyone’s final year of playing in a team together. It brought him a strange pang of sadness that Ryouta would rather ignore._

_He did just that._

_Putting his mind to rest with other much trivial things, he worked up the courage to ask Aomine;_

_“Aominecchi, what do you want to be when you grow up?”_

_There was a line of silence, all but five seconds passed when the boy finally spoke._

_“That’s a stupid question, Kise. I want to be a professional basketball player, of course!”_

_The blonde could see the other boy grinning through the darkness. His white teeth shining through the night._

_The first string Teiko basketball team had been ordered (by none other than Coach Shirogane) to go to a training camp all the way in Chiba._

_Tonight was their last night before they returned home. Aomine and Kise looked to be the only two awake, as they grew far too tired to sleep._

_The excitement of the day had kept them up._

_“Should have guessed…” Kise looked to his side at the other boy, smiling at him through the darkness as they lay on top of uncomfortable mats._

_It was odd, but Aomine didn’t want to leave the next day. He felt an odd ache in his chest when he realised it would be the last night Kise and him would be able stay up talking._

_He wondered to himself just why that was..._

_“Why, what do you want to do, Kise?” Daiki looked over at his team mate, curiosity getting the better of him._

_“I don’t really know, actually. I mean, modelling is fine, but sometimes all the girls around me get a bit too much.”  
“Are you bragging, Kise?” Aomine wasn’t sure if Ryouta could see his extremely unimpressed face, but it was certainly there._

_“Eh? No!” The blonde looked at him in surprise. How was that bragging?  
Daiki’s mouth curled upwards as he looked at Ryouta’s shocked expression, “Just kidding, Kise.” The tanned man slapped the boy on the shoulder in an act of affection._

_The pair of them broke out into an odd fit of giggles that only midnight could bring out of them. The second the two of them tried to quiet down, the louder their laughs rose._

_All until…_

_“Ryouta, Daiki, since you can’t sleep regularly, I suppose you want to rest eternally instead?” Akashi’s smooth voice pierced through the room. It held an undeniable threat that made the two boys shake in fear._

_“Shit!” Aomine hollered, the newly appointed captain’s voice scaring the hell out of the poor middle schoolers. That would be sure to wake everyone in the room up._

_“Mine-Chin, If you don’t shut up, I’ll crush you.” Murasakibara’s large horizontal form made no movement aside his mouth. It looked to be chewing up and down slowly, was he eating something this late at night?_

_“Murasakibara, don’t speak with your mouth full.” Midorima scolded from the other side of the room._

_“How long has everyone been awake?” Kise cried in a panic, why had they all been so silent until now?_

_“Long enough to know you’re both imbeciles.” The pair of boy could practically see Shintarou’s scowl from across the room._

_“Aww, don’t be so mean, Midorimacchi!” Ryouta pouted, clenching his fists in mock hurt as he sat up from his mat. “You know you love us!”_

_“No, I think both you and Aomine are half-witted simpletons.”_

_“I’m not a fucking simpleton!” Aomine sounded genuinely offended._

_“Please try to stop swearing, Aomine-Kun.” Kuroko was in a cocoon of blankets, yet his voice was incredibly clear. His blue hair peaked out from beneath the covers like a sprig of oddly coloured grass._

_Everyone in the room gasped from the shock, “Tetsu! When did you get here!”_

_“I have been here this entire time.”_

_“Tetsuya, Shintarou, Atsushi, Ryouta, Daiki, please refrain from speaking anymore. We have practice in the morning.” Akashi’s voice sent silence through the room._

_Everyone was quick to obey their captain’s command._

_“Goodnight, Aominecchi.” Kise added as a final farewell, grinning at the boy beside him._

_“Night, Kise.” Aomine returned, having the strangest smile on his face. For some reason, he enjoyed his time with the team, maybe it was all because they enjoyed basketball as much as he did. Maybe it was because he finally could relate to people his own age. Daiki wasn’t particularly sure._

_All he knew was that he didn’t want it to change._

_\---_

Aomine was bored.

Like, REALLY bored.

Not even an hour had passed since Tetsu and Kagami left for shopping, but it felt like days.

The tanned basketballer had been doing practically nothing these last few days and all of the free time seemed to pile up on him. He felt his hands itch for the rough feel of a basketball. Aomine hungered to shoot countless hoops over and over like a machine. He craved the feeling of exhilaration he got when he completed gravity defying shots.

He wanted to play basketball.

So Daiki did just that.

Grabbing a bag, and not forgetting a basketball this time, Daiki begrudgingly listened to Tetsuya’s words.

He felt the cool air on his skin and it felt like bliss

When was the last time he had been outside?

This really was getting ridiculous.

Even Aomine realised that.

_‘Nothing was going to change if I didn’t want it to.’_

That was the thought constantly blowing around in his head full of questions.

But there always was one inquiry that hit a lot harder than anything else.

_‘Did I want nothing to change?’_

Was seeing Kise again a sign to finally get some answers out of him?

Was it a sign to finally pour out those emotions he had been bottling up?  
He wasn’t sure.

Aomine felt himself dodge the question even in his mind. It was pathetic, and he knew. Hiding like this from the inevitable. Moping around inside just because of something that happened two years ago.

He really had no choice but to get over it.

Aomine couldn’t let Kise get away with ruining him all over again.

No, he wouldn’t.

Aomine Daiki would be perfectly content with not seeing the blonde ever again. He would have to be if he ever wanted to truly be okay again.

\---

Daiki wiped a refreshing sheen of sweat from his face, panting ever so slightly. It felt good to once again hear the ‘swish’ of the net as the basketball went in. He had missed the game, even if it had only been a matter of days.

Aomine crushed the disposable water bottle in his hands, downing the entire container with a few, quick gulps. The basketballer sighed, pleased with himself.

‘ _Even after a week of not practicing, I can still woop Kagami’s ass…’ The young man thought with pride._

The grumbling of his stomach brought him back down from his ego trip. Signalling to Daiki that he had skipped breakfast unknowingly. The man in turn, grumbled back and found his feet walking the rest of the way through the restaurant district to find something to eat.

There was no way in hell he was going to eat instant ramen again.

\---

After about fifteen minutes of wandering Aomine found himself with no particular food preferences. He was hungry, but he just wasn’t sure what he was hungry for. It was frustrating and made Daiki even more grumpy than usual.

Taking a stride forward, his eye picked up something.

He swore he had just caught sight of a familiar redhead, alongside he barely just noticed one of light blue.

They weren’t alone.

Aomine’s breath caught when he saw who was with them.

“Kise…” The man mumbled aloud, his voice uncovering his true feelings.

A poisonous flash of betrayal hit him like a tonne of bricks.

_‘Kagami and Kuroko are on his side aren’t they?’_

_‘They think I’m lying.’_

Daiki was about to walk up to them, about to scream things he would most definitely regret.

But a thought struck him.

Kise was with them.

Aomine didn’t want the blonde to see him, nor did he want to see Ryouta.

He didn’t want Kise to see that he still cared. It would cause too much trouble.

Feeling numb, the basketballer strode past the trio of old friends. They looked to be having fun, laughing and such. Aomine scowled.

Though if he had seen past his jealousy, his envy. He would have noticed the worry in Kuroko’s eyes, the fear in Kise’s.

If only he knew.

Aomine vowed with himself to confront Kagami and Kuroko about it.

Just not now.

Not in public.

These were private matters, and if word got out…

Daiki decided to wait for them in the comfort of their own home.

He brushed past the hordes of people, feeling numb and fiery anger at the same time. His mind was kept at bay, his expression composed. It was odd for Aomine, in fact it scared him.

What would become of him after today?

Would he lose two other important people in his life?

A bitter smirk crossed his face.

‘ _Who needs friends anyway?’_

Clenching his fists, an old mannerism came into his mind.

‘ _The only one I need is me.’_

\---

Kise walked along the foreign streets of Kyoto, the last time he had been here was on a class trip in elementary school…

Needless to say, it had changed since then.

The blonde felt his phone buzz and was hit with an incomprehensible dread.

His first thought was another horrifying text message.

Ryouta froze in place, rifling through his pockets to find the source of the noise. His hands clasped over his phone as they shook. He felt nervous and terrified at the same time. Almost not truly willing to open his phone to see, but he had to make sure…

Kise nearly collapsed in relief, it was just his sister. He breathed out a sigh as his eyes scanned the message. It was a simple text, filled with excitement.

**I saw you in a magazine again today, little bro!**

**You need to stop being so famous!**  


The photo attached was herself and the magazine in question. Kise smiled once more at the sight. Her blonde hair running in ringlets down her back as she raised her eyebrows at the camera.

Oh how he longed to see them in person once again…

Ryouta felt a pain strike his heart. Surely after all this time it would be safe. Surely after two years he could finally return home without the ice cold terror he once felt.

It had been a long time since the last letter, the latest paper holding chilling words. Kise didn’t feel It as much as he used to, but fear still gripped him as he read the characters displayed on the white.

 

**D O N ‘ T  F O R G E T . . . Y O U  C A N ‘ T  E S C A P E.**

Kise knew that already, Kise knew he couldn’t release himself from this personal hell. But he found a way to live with it, adapt, and it suited him just fine.

After Ryouta was done with the letter, he crushed in his fists. A strange bout of anger filling the young man as he threw it limply against his wall.

Maybe he should visit his family…

The idea wasn’t half bad…

Just a few more weeks just to be sure…

Yeah, and then it would be safe.

It had never been this long since a message, maybe they really had lost interest...

The blonde continued on his path, dawdling about the city with a new resolve. He found himself with nowhere in particular to go, he didn’t want to go back to his hotel room. Yet, he had nothing to do out here.

All he could do was wait for something to happen.

\---

As Kagami and Kuroko waved goodbye to Kise, they had no idea what kind of ordeal would befall them the second they opened their apartment door. The oncoming storm was in the human form of Aomine Daiki and there was no way to prepare themselves.

Aomine was pissed.

Ridiculously so.

He had no idea why it angered him so much. Maybe he selfishly thought that since the pair of them had heard his story first. They would cut all ties to Ryouta.

Maybe he thought they would choose him instead of the blonde, in this twisted game of deceit.

Daiki was incorrect, he could see that now.

Aomine wasn’t going to quietly respect their decision. It just wasn’t in his nature. He thought they deserved hell, and he was very willing to give them it.

The basketballer didn’t seem to realise that there was a reason for their actions. Other than the fact that they chose to sympathise with Kise.

Was Aomine jealous?  
That couldn’t be it. Kagami and Kuroko were hindrances in his life. That was all.

Well, that’s at least what he wanted to think.

He tried to prevent the sick feeling of betrayal from slinking up from the depths of his heart but it was far too late for that.

Daiki masked the itching feeling with anger, and a poisonous scowl to contradict how hurt he was feeling.

Aomine heard the front door open as he steeled himself for a huge argument.

The second Kagami and Kuroko entered, they knew something had definitely happened.

“Shoe shopping, my ass.” Were Daiki’s words of choice. The venom in the sentence unmistakable.

Taiga and Tetsuya spared each other a glance.

The walk home had been peaceful, with both of their hands intertwined like an old married couple. They spoke about their concerns for Kise and how they would try to fix this situation.

Never did they expect Aomine would find out before they told him.

This would be hell.

 


	11. Second Chances.

Never in Kagami’s life had he felt an angrier presence within Aomine. And to tell the truth, it frightened him just the slightest bit.

 But, it was the twitching scowl and the wary eyes that Taiga noticed next… That was what scared the redhead the most.

Aomine looked… hurt?

Apparently anger wasn’t the only thing Aomine was feeling, which surprised Kuroko and Kagami. They weren’t sure exactly why the shock had set in the way it did. It was possible that the two of them hadn’t even considered Daiki to feel betrayal like this. But, as they looked at the man now, the pair felt the slightest trickle of guilt spill out.

Kuroko took a deep breath beside his companion, briefly preparing himself for what would inevitably come next.

“Look, Aomine-Kun we can explain-“

“Explain what? That you were talking to that asshole behind my back?!” Daiki cut his former shadow off with an iron tongue, he wasn’t willing to hear any excuses. Kuroko knew that, yet his interruption caused the shadow to flinch ever so slightly.

“He’s our friend, Aomine-Kun, we couldn’t just ignore him.” Tetsuya spoke up once more, trying his very best not to let the situation escalate any further.

“Even after all the shit he did to me? He’s a monster!”

“He’s not!” Kagami chimed in, his gruff voice matching Aomine’s tone.

“So you’re sympathising with him now? Fucking great!” Daiki’s mouth twisted into a bitter smirk, the sarcasm in his word’s masking the treachery he felt.

“You don’t know the whole story, Aomine-Kun.” Kuroko’s voice begins to border on irritable, his blue eyebrows furrowed in frustration as he tried to reason with his former light.

“I know that he didn’t give a fuck about what happened to me that night. I know that he must have left me out of spite!”

“You couldn’t be further from the truth!” Tetsuya’s words begin to climb in volume, hoping to convince his thick headed friend through his voice.

So much for trying not to start an argument…

“Kise had a reason!” Kagami stood by his shadow, looking at Daiki with absolutely certainty.

Aomine looked at the pair of them, _‘Of course he’d back him up…’_ the man thought with disdain. How could he be surprised, the two of them were together after all… Maybe Daiki was just desperate to see if anyone sided with him in this two year war against the man that broke his heart.

After everything he had been through, after telling the pair of them everything. They had abandoned him.

 Was anyone on his side anymore?

Aomine scowled once more at his roommates. “How do you know he wasn’t lying? He’s pretty good at that.”

“Kise had proof, how do we know _you’re_ not lying!” Kagami retorts, thinking back on the dreadful messages Kise kept on his phone. He had shown them the letters too… It sent chills down Taiga’s spine.

Aomine freezes, unsure of what to say. “Proof of what? Just what exactly does he have proof of?”

What a strange thing to say… Just what proof did the blonde have?

Daiki had to admit to himself that he was rather curious.

“Why don’t you ask Kise-Kun?” Kuroko urges.

“I can’t do that!” Daiki lets out a frustrated growl, his darkened eyes glowing with something ominously miserable.

“You can, we know you can!” Kagami interjects, his red eyes meeting his rival’s dark blue. Slowly disregarding that fact that his words of choice sound like a pep-talk.

Kuroko and Kagami were aware that Kise had told them to go and approach Aomine in his stead. But maybe if they pushed just hard enough, they could get the two to talk it out themselves.

Maybe they could finally reunite properly.

“I can’t… Not after everything he did to me…” Aomine remains stubborn as ever, his voice wavers but his words are truthful. He couldn’t face the blonde, not today, not ever.

This didn’t seem to be getting anywhere.

Daiki was just too pig-headed to notice the truth around him.

Tetsuya was getting agitated.

“It’s not what he did to you, it’s what he did for you!” Kuroko cries, finally letting out the frustration he felt for this situation. It wasn’t as if his life revolved around both Aomine and Kise finding happiness… But the thought of Daiki wilfully staying in the dark about Ryouta’s predicament just seemed to anger Kuroko.

Daiki raised a questioning eyebrow at his former shadow, “What does that even mean?” Aomine was no longer shouting, his eyebrows drew together, perplexed. As he quietly tried to work out the situation by himself.

“Kise-Kun sacrificed everything, just so you’d be safe. And you call him a monster?”

Kuroko finally let out his thoughts. He hoped he could convey the worry that he felt for the model through his words. He needed Aomine to know, that Kise wasn’t at fault here. He had only left to protect him.

“Tetsu, what the fuck are you even saying?” Daiki cried out, more out of confusion than anger.  
“Aomine-Kun, he did what was best for the both of you.”

Daiki couldn’t think of a clever retort and resorted to biting his tongue until Kuroko was finished.

“Now stop being stubborn child and go face Kise-Kun, or so help me God I will kick your ass!”

A tense quiet befell the roommates.

Kagami looked amazed at Kuroko’s words. The redhead was certain he had never heard Tetsuya swear before. It was truly a sight to behold.

And for Aomine, well he was just as dumbfounded.

Kuroko must have really meant what he said. For him to say such things to that extent.

It must mean…

It must mean he was telling the truth.

Maybe Tetsuya was right, maybe Aomine should hear the blonde out.

But would it really all be cleared up after all this time?

Would any resentment still remain after everything was said and done?

Was it possible to fix their broken relationship? To fix Aomine’s heart?  
“Where would Kise be? I-if I wanted to see him.”

Kuroko smiled at the man then, looking up at him in relief. His shroud of anger had washed away completely.

It was strange how Tetsuya could do that. Aomine always thought his blue haired friend had been a strange one. 

Full of emotion one second, a stony wall the next… Daiki thought maybe magic had to do with it.

Aomine had finally given in, maybe he would be willing to listen this time. Kuroko was just happy his cursing had not gone to waste.

Tetsuya made a note to only use such words during important situations such as these.

It certainly seemed to make an impact that way.  
“He’s staying here, room 507. Let us know if you’ll be home late.” Kuroko replied, helpfully producing a hotel address from his back pocket.

“Just what is that supposed to mean?” Daiki made a face at his old shadow.

“Oh Aomine-Kun, I thought you would have known about such things already. You see, when two people love each other very much-“

“Okay, okay I get it! Jesus fucking Christ! I’m only going there to talk to him.” Aomine sighs, trying his very best to get the hell out of there before the pair said anything else ridiculous.

“Use protection!” Kagami chirped just before Daiki closed the door.

“Assholes…” The basketballer muttered under his breath.

That had definitely not gone as planned.

Just what happened to the whole, confrontation, argument thing?

 Kagami and Kuroko smiled each other. Though their anxiety for their pair of friends was great, the two of them hid it with a mask of their own.

Everything would be okay.

That was a mantra the four men lived by, never to know that each individual thought the same.

_‘It would all be alright…’_

It would have to be.

“Was what we did, the right thing?” Kagami asked, his voice filling the comfortable silence that had fallen between the two of them.

“I sincerely hope so…” Kuroko replied, casting his gaze to the floor. “We can only wait and see.”

\---

Aomine felt his breathing grow quicker as the whole situation set in.

Was he really okay with all of this?  
Did he really want to know why Kise left him all these years?

Would it really make a difference?  
What if Kagami and Kuroko had been lying? What if this was all just a big set up to make him look like a dumbass?  
Daiki wasn’t usually one for worrying, but this time, he couldn’t seem to stop.

Yet, his pace quickened to the beat of his heart as he strode across the city in search of Kise’s hotel. He felt warm inside when he thought about being happy with Kise again.

Though the possibility was next to zero, Aomine wondered if his odd thought could be achievable.

Maybe he and Kise could put this behind them, brush past the past.

Aomine just wasn’t sure if he was willing to. It would all depend on what Ryouta had to say. If it all chalked up to be a lame excuse, Daiki was certain he would walk right out of that room without a single regret.

Maybe that had been the reason he wasn’t fully able to let go all these years. Maybe all he needed was a reason to achieve closure and start the next chapter of his life. 

But what if Kise did have a viable story…?

What would he do then?

The man shook of the thought, deciding that he would burn that bridge when he got to it.

Aomine glanced at the card Kuroko had rather willingly given him. He was close, he could see the street name a few blocks away.

Was he really going to do this?

Daiki took a deep breath, and stepped onwards.

Yes, he was.

\---

Kise slumped onto his bed, the foreign fragrance of the hotel room sheets making Kise even more aware of how much he missed home.

Ryouta sighed, there would be no helping feeling home sick right now. He would have to get over the feeling of loneliness. He should have already, yet he just couldn’t shake the isolation he felt in his mind.

How ironic, he was surrounded by fans, yet he most times, he found himself all alone in this wide world.

The young model raked a pale hand across his blonde hair and blew out a sigh.

There wasn’t all that much to do here… Maybe that was the reason for his melancholy. He knew the thought was a dumb one, he knew full well just why he felt this way.

Not that he was willing to delve into the deep, dark depths of his mind again anytime soon.

A yawn escaped the blonde as he turned from his spot on the mattress.

Hmmm, a nap did seem rather tempting right now.

Kise glanced warily at the pillow strewn across the large bed. It seemed so far away…

But just as he reached to retrieve it-

The young man heard a knock at the door.

‘ _Strange… I didn’t order room service…’ Kise wondered idly._

The blonde lay there still for another moment. Hoping that maybe the stranger would leave if they thought no one was in here.

Ryouta did believe that his wish would be granted, until he heard another pound on the door.

“Oi, Kise! Open up!”

Ryouta’s hazel eyes widened to the size of saucers, “Aominecchi…”

He had to be dreaming.

Kise got up from his place on the bed with haste, almost sprinting to open the door. Praying to whoever was listening to not let this be a mirage.

He had imagined seeing Daiki so many times before this, even hearing his gruff voice insulting him was regular. But no matter how many times Kise looked over his shoulder he had caught no sight of the tanned basketballer.

But for some reason, this fake ‘Aomine’ seemed a whole lot more realistic than the dreamt up ones that came before him.

Despite knowing it was probably all an illusion. Kise found himself tripping over his own feet to get to the door.

\---

Aomine didn’t even hesitate as his calloused hand met the door. He knew what he was doing, whether it was right or not, that was what slipped him up.

Would patching things up really be the best thing?

He saw the door open and the light of the room blocked his vision. Daiki scowled and cringed at the shining at his eyes. “Jesus fucking Christ do you have the sun in there?” He let out without thinking.

“It’s really you, Aominecchi.” Kise said in amazement, “Ah sorry… Aomine.” The name felt strange on his tongue, like something was desperately missing. It hurt Kise in a way that was hard to comprehend. Even if it was one last time, Ryouta would have loved to call him Aominecchi.

Daiki was starting to regret making Kise stop adding the _‘cchi’_ to his name. It made his heart feel empty.

“Uh…” Aomine was at a loss of words and emotion. He wasn’t sure what to feel right now.

He supposed the only way he could get over this confusion was to dive right in and begin questioning the poor blonde.

“Fuck it.” He mumbled under his breath, “Kagami and Kuroko, I saw you talking with them at that café this morning. They told me you had a good reason… f-for leaving like that two years ago, but they wouldn’t tell me what it was. They told me to ask you about it and hear you out. Besides, I figured Kuroko will probably beat my ass up if I don’t. Not that I’m scared of him of course.” Aomine didn’t seem to notice he was nervously babbling as he blurted out everything he had in his mind.

Kise looked at him in amazement.

There wasn’t the same hurt in Aomine’s dark blue eyes as before…

It almost looked like hope had replaced it.

Daiki took a deep breath, “I’m not apologising for what I said when I last saw you, not just yet anyway. I’m still kind of pissed at what you did…”  
_‘Biggest understatement of the year.’_

“But, if I knew why you left, I think I’d be able to get some… I don’t fucking know, closure or some shit?”

Kise nodded at the basketballer request, still quite shocked that the man himself was at his door. The blonde swore he felt tear prick his eyes at the sight of him. Kagami and Kuroko were that capable that they not only got the basketballer to listen him, but got _the_ Aomine Daiki to show up at _Kise’s_ very door. Without so much as a weeklong argument.

The blonde was impressed. But not surprised.

The light and the shadow… they made a pretty good team together. In everything they did apparently. Even the impossible was achievable if they were on his side.

The young model still felt overwhelmed by the idea that Daiki had finally given in and was willing to listen to him. He could finally tell the man just why he left that night.

He could give him a reason, not just a possibility.

He could give him closure, if that was all he desired. Kise would respect that.

Ryouta could finally tell Daiki that he loved him.

For better or worse.

Whatever came of this time they spent together, whatever happened.

It would change what the two of them thought of each other for the rest of their lives.

 


	12. "I Just Had To Get You To Shut Up."

“Sit down, if you’d like.” Kise gestured inside his hotel room, his pale hand shaking ever so slightly as the realisation finally set in.

Aomine Daiki was here, he had willingly come by himself. It had felt so long since they had last seen or spoken with each other, even If they had seen each other a few days ago. That hadn’t been speaking, that had been a mess of pleading and hurt. Kise cried himself to sleep that night, it had broken him apart even though he knew it was the inevitable. The blonde truly thought it would be the last time he saw the tanned basketballer.

But here he was, inside his room with his blue eyes darting back and forth nervously. Like he was looking for an escape route if things went sour.

It was certainly an odd look for Aomine. Ryouta had always seen the man as a confident person. Yet, looking at him now, you wouldn’t be able to tell it.

Daiki must be more anxious than Kise.

Ryouta hadn’t the slightest idea why either.

Aomine sat down on Kise’s black leather sofa, a frown set deep onto his features.

Kise followed in his footsteps, but sat opposite him on another lounge. Thinking it would make it uncomfortable if they were to accidentally touch each other.

Aomine gazed at the room before him. Kise’s job must pay damn well for him to afford a swanky ass place like this. From the plush cream carpet, to the paintings adorning the wall, it all looked like a room fit for royalty.

Now, Daiki had a taste for interior design like Kagami had a taste for women. But even he could tell the room was gorgeous. Hell, even the ceiling was intricately carved into a flowing pattern of flowers.

“Aominech- Aomine, where would you like me to begin?” Kise wasn’t looking at him, apparently finding his undoubtedly expensive shoes more interesting than the face of his heart break. He felt overwhelmed about the whole scenario and was rather lost. Having to tell this story so many times in a short period of time made Ryouta feel sick to his stomach. Whether or not it was better for him to tell people, he wasn’t sure. All the blonde knew was that thinking about it for too long made his head spin in anxiety and tears well up in his eyes. It was easy to tell that the ordeal had been stressful, yet it had become so normal for him now that it was almost scary. Needless to say it still affected him, but Kise almost felt like it had always happened to him. Like it was just another part of his life as unpleasant as cleaning and such. Just another thing to deal with every so often.

“The start, I want to hear it all. The truth, no matter how fucked up it will make me. I just… I need to know.” Aomine spoke, his usual scowl etched into his features. He thought of the last time the two had spoken, how he had told Kise that he hadn’t want to hear what he had to say.

Ryouta must think he was being a contradictive prick.

Whether he would voice that opinion by the day’s end or not, would probably depend on what happened said next.

Daiki wasn’t quite sure what made him want to go see Kise. He was certain that Kagami and Kuroko had urged him there. Yet, Aomine couldn’t help but feel that he would have ended up here anyway. Their conversation that day had really ate at his insides. The tanned basketballer’s brain threw questions and doubts at him faster than he could comprehend.

The whole situation was driving him crazy, he hadn’t felt like his usual, confident self.

He only prayed that Kise wouldn’t notice how strange he felt. Aomine didn’t want him knowing how broken inside he was after what had happened. Daiki didn’t want him to know that he cared more than anyone else. That he prayed that this would end with the two of them in each other’s arms, together once more.

Kise held his breath, if Aomine wanted the whole truth. He would most certainly get it. Daiki deserved as much, it would be unfair otherwise. With Kuroko and Kagami, they had gotten the most Kise could stand to say, none of his thoughts and feelings, only the facts. But Ryouta felt that he owed Aomine this, so he vowed to push himself back into that time. Back to where he was even more afraid then he was now.

Back to two years ago.

“I guess I’ll start when I got the very first letter. I had gotten threats and such, me being a model and all… but this one stood out for some strange reason. It had this meaning towards it, but me being me, I thought nothing of it.”

Ryouta felt drained enough already, doing this twice in a day felt far too overwhelming. Kise tried to numb himself, made it feel like he was back in class. With the teacher droning on about square roots and such… He wasn’t sure if it was working, but trying was better than not at all, so he continued. Kise didn’t meet the man’s eyes as he opened his mouth once more, whatever expression Daiki had on would probably cause Ryouta to stop talking.

He just had to pretend he was talking to no one.

“But then, well, I started hearing things in the bushes and felt like I was being watched… and tha-that’s when the second letter arrived.” The blonde smiled at himself, laughing at how ridiculous he must sound. Kise was sure Aomine could tell how shaky he was, the young model only hoped it wouldn’t be taken for a sign of lying.

“It had one of my earrings in it, the one that I had gotten from one of my birthdays. It meant to me that they’d been in my house, they’d seen my room, and they knew where I lived. I felt terrified in my own home, and it was awful.”

Aomine pursed his lips, trying his hardest not to interrupt with questions. He could see on the blonde’s face that this was difficult for him. Daiki didn’t want Kise to withhold information from him just because he got too impatient to hear the whole story. Kise had said something that Aomine hadn’t in the slightest expected. He had a stalker? A threatener? Why hadn’t he said anything about this before that?

“More letters came after that, as well as the winter cup. The words on the paper told me if I told anyone, anyone at all. My sisters would… I couldn’t bear to see that happen. I remember not sleeping at all and throwing myself into training. I needed a distraction, I wanted to win. So when they announced that we would be versing Touou Academy, well I got excited. It meant that I’d finally be able to focus on other things other than those awful threats.” 

Kise hadn’t spoken like that when he relayed such messages to Kagami and Kuroko. Even he knew so, Ryouta couldn’t stop himself.

“The night of the game, after you won. I was overwhelmed, I never thought I could lose… so I broke down. I collapsed on the inside because everything in my world was falling apart. The one thing that kept me going was the fact that this time, you helped me up from the ground. It helped me leave with dignity, and I will never forget that.”  
Aomine is hit with a wave of stinging nostalgia that made his head feel dizzy.

He remembers that day like it was yesterday.

Kise sinking down to the ground, onto the wooden floor of the basketballer court. His dulled golden eyes glazed over in defeat as he held back tears from within them.

The cold winter air that he was assaulted with the second he went outside.

Kise’s blonde hair in the moonlight…

Words of strange meaning being exchanged…

And then…

“And then you found me, Aominech- Aomine, you saw me crying and you went to come help me.”

Kise would always treasure such memories, no matter how painful.

Aomine had shown him kindness, when he thought no one in the entire world would understand. He helped him up, he calmed him down.

Daiki made everything feel okay for just a few moments.

It had always been something Kise loved about Aomine.

Despite his razor sharp exterior, he had a soft spot. It warmed Kise’s heart to know such information.

No matter how selfish Ryouta thought it was, It felt good to know that Aomine had let Kise in on a big secret, and was probably one of the few people who got to see that side of Aomine Daiki.

And yet, he threw that all away because he wasn’t strong enough to face the situation at hand. The young model felt pathetic.

“I just lost it then and there, I didn’t know what to do anymore. You were leaving, and I was going to be left alone. We’d probably never see each other again… It made me feel like my heart was going to crumble into dust. So I said what was on my mind, the truth, and In turn you kissed me.”

Aomine had never been so fascinated with someone’s feelings before this. It was strange how mesmerized he felt by such trifling thoughts from the blonde. Maybe he was vain, maybe it was only because those thoughts were about him. But it was all it took for Daiki not to be on the edge of his seat, waiting for what went on next.

“When you kissed me, everything kinda fell into place. All those feelings that I had had since middle school were confirmed. I was too frozen to say anything, so I hoped that I could interpret such things with… body language.”

Daiki blushed, _he blushed!_

Kise paused in his speech to gaze upon such an abnormality, Aomine looked anywhere but Kise as his cheeks grew dusted with pink.

Aomine Daiki, famous for being as vulgar and as blunt as can be, was blushing over something that had happened _years_ ago.

“Why did you stop talking, keep going, idiot.” Daiki barked, finally allowing the redness in his expression to flush away.

Oh, right, Kise had a story to tell.

“That night… after we, well you know.” Kise made a few lewd hand gestures to Aomine, like an immature high schooler.

“What the fuck, Kise? I know! I know! Keep going, not need for hand signs, Jesus Christ!” Daiki growled, as he watched Ryouta grin just the slightest bit.

“I thought everything would be okay, that we would sort things out just like that. That whether we were still friends after, or something more. I didn’t really mind, I was just happy that you were by my side. I felt safe.”  
Aomine tried not to let out a smile, knowing full well he should still keep up that he wasn’t going to forgive Kise. He knew such things, and yet here he was, talking to Kise like they used to back when they were at school.

Kise felt safe with him?

Just what did that mean?

“And then, that night, I got a phone call…”

The atmosphere in the room instantly changed. There was no more smiling from Kise. It had gotten tense and dark.

This had been the reason Aomine had been waiting for. The thing he’d been thinking about for years. The one decision that messed up Daiki’s heart for the worse.

“I still remember it, like it was yesterday. I still have nightmares about it.” Kise’s eyes unconsciously started to water just thinking about it.

“They- He said, ‘now, now, Kise, sleeping with your opponent… what a dirty trick.’ And at that moment I knew that we couldn’t have the relationship I wanted. I knew that he had all the information about me to make myself and everyone around me suffer. It was such a pointless sentence, yet it hit me so hard I couldn’t breathe.”

Daiki held his breath, this hadn’t been what he had been expecting… Aomine just thought that maybe the blonde was afraid of commitment, couldn’t take being tied down or something. At least, the basketballer wanted to think that. He could understand something like that, but this…

“He knew everything about me, he knew about you, too. He’d seen us, he’d followed us to your house. He knew where you lived, he knew where I lived. At that moment, I don’t think I’d ever been so scared before.”

A singular tear drop fell from Ryouta’s face, relaying the story had brought back such painful memories…

“What a nice house… it would look lovely drenched in flames.” Kise repeated the words that had gone off in his head oh so many times.

Aomine clenched his fists, he was furious. But not at Kise, after all these years, the blonde hadn’t been in the wrong. He wasn’t at fault here…

The person Daiki was angry at was himself.

“He threatened you, Aominecchi. I couldn’t let anything happened to you, or to my family.” The old nickname that Kise had used for his friend had slipped out of Ryouta’s lips like liquid gold.

Aomine didn’t correct him, this time.

“He said he’d hurt anyone around me… and with that I knew.”

Kise skin paled, as he looked to the floor in shame and misery.

“I had to leave you, I had to hurt you so you wouldn’t follow me. I had to deal with this on my own, I didn’t want to get anyone else involved. So I-I left, I left my home and moved. I started anew, all alone. So no one could possibly get hurt around me.”

At this point, Kise couldn’t stop the liquid stream falling from his eyes. He didn’t even try to.

“If only I had been strong enough to protect all of you without running away… without…”

“Stop.” Aomine commanded, his voice was nothing like Kise was used to.

Was Daiki angry about all of this?  
Was he mad at Kise for being so weak?  
It was probable…

Kise wouldn’t blame him. The only one he blamed was himself.

“I could have protected you… I-if I knew.” Aomine spoke his emotions, his feelings only. Far too overwhelmed with such things to put up a scowling façade anymore. “I was such an asshole.”

“No, no, no, Aominecchi! It’s okay, you were doing your best with what information you had. I don’t blame you for anything.”

“You might not blame me, but I do.” Daiki sighed frustrated. The basketballer bowed his head in shame.

Shame, Aomine Daiki wasn’t known for such a thing.

Yet now…

If only he had known, if only…

He felt pressure on his shoulder. “I can’t have that, you can’t blame yourself Aomine.” Daiki’s gaze met Ryouta’s the two of them being far too close to each other. “You didn’t know.”

Their faces were inches apart, Daiki could pick apart the tiny flecks of gold within Ryouta’s eyes.

“But I should have noticed! I should have seen how scared you were- I should have-“

Aomine fell silent.

There was an obstruction in front of his lips, it kept him from talking.

An obstruction named Kise Ryouta.

Kise Ryouta, kissing him.

Kissing him so he’d shut up.

Sure, the blonde had been known to steal moves from players on the basketball court, but was it really necessary now?

Kise’s voice was just below a sultry whisper as he pulled away from the other man.

“Sorry, I just had to get you to shut up.”

 


	13. Riko Definitely Should Have Stayed Home.

Just what had Kise done?

Well, the blonde was fairly sure he knew what, it was burning into his mind as he did so. Ryouta was just trying to process why the hell he thought kissing Aomine was a good idea.

It definitely wasn’t.

Kise’s body had moved on its own, seeing Aomine like that made the young model’s heart swell. And well, then that happened.

Ryouta had needed Daiki to shut up, he couldn’t use words to quell his self-hatred. So, just like the basketballer had once done to him. He kissed him to quiet the man.

And what was worse was that the blonde didn’t regret it.

Aomine’s lips still felt the same as they did that very night two years ago. It brought back sweet and sour nostalgia that brought more tears to Kise’s eyes.

The blonde pulled away further, unsure of just what would happen next. He took in the surprised look on the tanned basketballer’s face, the man looked unable to process such things.

Kise was having a hard time too.

Silence covered the two of them, like a thick blanket. It was uncomfortable and suffocating and not at all like the rare quiet they used to share back in middle school.

Aomine felt the need to voice his valued opinion on the situation, for it was probably needed if the scenario didn’t want to grind to an awkward halt.

“What the fuck Kise?”

What the fuck Kise, indeed.

Daiki looked mad, he probably was mad. Who wouldn’t be mad?

Kise frowned, knowing that this reaction was inevitable, even expected at this point. The blonde could already tell what would happen next. Aomine would storm out, probably take back any leniency and affection he ever felt for the model. And never talk to him again.

Ryouta was such an idiot.

“Stealing my moves… You’re such a dumbass.”

What?

“Eh? What are yo-“

Almost out of spite, Aomine placed his lips on Kise’s once more. Pulling him in to the kiss with a rough passion that could be chalked up to pure excitement. Daiki’s hand found their way into Kise’s soft blonde hair, tugging it loosely, teasingly. Ryouta made a noise of delight at the action, reciprocating the feeling with a gently nip on Aomine’s lips. Daiki dragged him closer, putting an arm on his waist as he deepened the kiss. 

What the hell was Aomine doing now?

Sure, Daiki had come here to finally find out just what happened that night. But now that was resolved just what happened now?

This, apparently.

Aomine’s emotions were alight, he was worried for Kise’s safety. He wanted the blonde to be safe.

Even if it meant that he’d have to stay in Daiki’s arms for eternity.

That would be a very valuable compromise, in Aomine’s opinion.

Maybe Kise couldn’t read Aomine as well as he originally thought. He could always surprise him with stunts such as these… Not that returning his kiss was unwelcome, it was just unexpected.

Yet, the action was so ridiculously Aomine that Ryouta should have seen it coming a mile away.

It was a kiss that could have lasted forever for all that the pair of them cared. It had been far too long, yet it felt like yesterday since the two of them had been together.

There was an odd sense of elation, such extreme happiness that Daiki couldn’t really explain. He knew what they were doing wasn’t particularly right. They had so much to explain, to talk about. But in this moment. There was a peace between them, where their pasts were forgotten. And It was just like they were teenagers all over again. Before everything had gotten complicated and it was just them on the moonlit basketball court alone.

That basketball court hadn’t held many happy memories for the two of them.

One associated it with the fear of being preyed on, the terror of those you loved being threatened. The pain of leaving…

The other, a fierce heartbreak that happened later in a matter of hours. The agonising shatter of his hopeful disposition.

But there was always that one kiss there that the pair of them held sacred. Even now, even after the pain the two of them went through. It was still a treasured memory no matter how much it stung.

No matter how fucked up the situation, that memory couldn’t be tainted.

“Aominecchi~” A pleased sigh escaped Kise’s lips before he could hold them back. The model wrapped his arms around the man’s neck as he lured their faces closer once more.

Their lips didn’t meet, but their eyes did.

All that mattered in the world that moment was the deep blue of Daiki’s eyes meeting the golden hazel that belonged to Ryouta.

All that mattered was the two of them.

“This could work…” Aomine finally broke the comfortable silence the two of them had been sharing. His eyes, looked oh so different from the miserable ones Kise had seen last. They were filled with hope, with possibility.

Ryouta smiled at the man, not answering with his words.

The blonde just pulled him into another kiss.

\---

“Satsuki, do you really think its okay for me to come?” Aida Riko trailed behind her girlfriend, uncharacteristically sombre.

“Nonsense, Ri-Chan, you made the food. You have to deliver it to Ki-Chan with me!”

The pink haired woman didn’t seem to regard the ominous aura of the crock pot as anything unusual as she walked along the street. Her cooking was just the same as Riko’s anyway.

It was one of the reasons they ate takeout all the time.

“But I was going to write up a new training schedule! Besides… I’m not all that familiar with Kise-Kun anyway,” The old Seirin coach whined.

“Ri-Chan, I can’t leave you all alone on a Friday night, it would be sad!”

“Only to you,” The brunette remarked.

“I haven’t seen Ki-Chan in ages, and he’s finally back in Kyoto again! I want to speak to him and maybe hit him on the head for never calling me in two years!” Momoi didn’t seem to be listening to any of the girl opposite hers complaints. Riko sighed as Satsuki looked at her, seemingly wanting a response from the brunette.

“Yeah… I remember that, he just kind of disappeared.” Riko raised a hand to her chin, thinking inquisitively.

The blonde had left without so much as a goodbye to anyone around him. It had been rather strange, but Aida had certainly not been close enough with everyone involved to go poking around in it.

Well, that is until she started dating Momoi Satsuki.

Winter last year, the two found themselves working at the very same gym as each other. Almost instantly the two began dating, the pair of them being truthful about the sexual tension that had been there in high school.

Evidentially, the tension was still there. Well, that was until It was… solved.

The pink haired girl had given Riko much more information than she could have ever dreamed of about the disbanded Generation of Miracles. It wasn’t like the brunette was using her, it was just one of the perks of being her girlfriend.

“That’s why I took a little sneak peak at Tetsu-Kun’s phone when we ran into each other in the street! I could tell that him and Kagami-Kun were hiding something!”

“You stole his phone?” Riko asked, incredulous. The woman, though her cute, airy appearance. Was actually quite the genius. The pair together could read people like a book within seconds of meeting them. Satsuki Momoi was quite the force to be reckoned with, especially if you were hiding something from her.

“P put it back but yep! That’s why I finally know where Ki-Chan is.” Momoi replied cheerfully, not doubting her morals in the slightest.

“You shouldn’t steal things, Satsuki.” The woman beside her scolded weakly.

“I put it back!” Momoi pouted, leaning her head teasingly on the brunette girl’s shoulder. 

“So, we’re basically showing up uninvited.” Aida added, unfazed by the flirtation as the couple powered through the streets. 

“Yeah.”

“Great…” The former Seirin coach sighed, not having enough will within herself to resist her girlfriend’s whims.

\---

“It’s been like, five hours…” Kagami glanced warily at his phone. Looking upon the device with mild irritation.

“Things must have gone well then.”

“What do you mean by that, Kuroko?” Taiga sat up from his spot on the coach. Glancing at his companion with his strange eyebrows raised.

“I think you know, Kagami-Kun.”

“No, I really don’t.” The redhead grumbled, fisting his hands into the grey suede sofa.

Kuroko had no intentions on telling the basketballer just what he suspected his former team mates were doing. Kagami was rather thick headed sometimes, and the blue haired boy just loved to tease him.

“I don’t want to say, Kagami-Kun, it’s far too indecent.” Tetsuya hid a tiny smirk from the man as he idly stroked Nigou.

“Oh, wow, do you really think-? “

“Oh, I know, Kagami-Kun.”  
“No.”

“Yes.”

“But Aomine was so pissed at him before!”

“You participated in my teasing of him before he went, are you implying that your words were untrue?”

“Yeah, I mean, I was just joking around. I didn’t think they’d actually fuc-“

“Language, Kagami-Kun.”

“Sorry, sorry, but you’re wrong.”

“Why don’t we see who’s right when Aomine-Kun gets back?”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Kuroko wasn’t a fan of losing things. Even if it was something as trifling as a bet.

Unfortunately for him, Kagami hated losing too.

\---

The situation at Kise’s hotel room had gotten particularly… heated.

With an almost animalistic hunger the two devoured each other. Aomine had Kise pressed up against some wall that didn’t matter particularly as the pair of them went at each other. Daiki couldn’t even remember what day it was.

At some point, Kise had lost his shirt. Which was completely fine with Aomine. In fact, it was a lot better than fine.

Dear God, how he had missed the model.

They roamed up and down each other’s body. Exploring places they had been before with feverish hands and lips.

Thing had turned out so much better than expected.

\---

“Alright! Room 507! We’re here!” Satsuki cheered, her lips turning up into a delightful grin as she pumped one of her arms into the air.

“Are we really doing this? It’s seems kind of rude…”  
Momoi tsked, moving closer towards the door.

“Eh? It’s open.” The pink haired woman looked at the door in question. It was slightly ajar, not enough for a passer-by to notice, but just enough for the woman to know. Glancing at her companion she tentatively knocked on the door. “Ki-Chan? Are you in here?”

The two women were completely unaware of the circumstances beyond that door. Totally unaware that behind this slab of wood was… well…

Pressing her ear to the door, Satsuki heard a faint whimper.

Alarm bells went off in the pink haired woman’s head.

_‘Is Ki-Chan in trouble?’ Her mind seemed to scream._

Cracking open the door with Riko in tow, she entered the hotel room.

“Ah Aominecchi~” Kise cried in pure delight, completely oblivious to the two girls just beyond the corner…

The companions turned onto the rather horrific scene for them.

Satsuki’s soul left her body.

The scene in question involved two of her former class mates. Completely naked against a wall. Preying on each other like wild animals.

They even sounded like wild animals, seriously was that normal?

Aomine looked to be… ‘Inside’ of the blonde and was thoroughly enjoying it. Ryouta was pretty into it too.

‘Pretty’ meaning just as much, or even more. Their moaning certainly confirmed that. Not to mention the mess they had made everywhere…

“OH MY FUCK!” Riko screamed, shielding her eyes. Why had Satsuki made her come with her?

Was it to make sure that the old Seirin coach held not a scrap of heterosexuality left within her?

Because this little scene certainly did the trick.

If you told her three years ago that she’d walk in on two of the renowned Generations of Miracles doing the nasty she would have laughed until she cried.

But now…

Noticing the loud noise coming from the hallway, Kise looked to the side feverishly. His vision was rather clouded with lust and it took a while to focus.

But when he did.

“HOLY SHIT! AOMINECCHI!”

“Yeah, I know, I’m pretty amazing aren’t I?” Daiki smirked at the blonde’s reaction. Letting his hands roam further down the blonde. 

“NO! Well, yes… BUT THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEAN.” The model shakily turned the man’s head to the hallway.

Aomine’s life flashed before his eyes.  He glanced at the two obviously traumatised women shielding their gazes.

“FUCK!” He exclaimed, not really sure what to do.  
“GET OUT OF ME SO I CAN PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!”

“SHIT! SORRY, OKAY!”

After so many times walking in on Kagami and Kuroko, he now wondered himself how they didn’t just die of embarrassment. Because Daiki was pretty sure if he could die in a hole right now, he would, very gladly.

Not that he’d admit to being embarrassed in the slightest.

Riko was pretty sure that image would be forever burned into her eyes.

Once the two were finally… disconnected…? Kise scrambled behind the couch, shrieking as he cowered behind a pillow.

Aomine, however just stood there, not really sure what to do. He sure as hell wasn’t going to go hide. It’s not like he was all that ashamed. Just, really, really, embarrassed. More for Kise than himself, really. Daiki had nothing to hide, he knew that now. Satsuki had seen him naked more than a few times and it hardly phased him anymore. The whole ‘caught in the act’ thing got him a little red in the face, so what? 

“Jesus Christ, Dai-Chan could you put little Dai-Chan away?” Satsuki sighed, oddly unperturbed by the situation. 

“Hey, he’s not little!” Aomine looked down, hands on his hips.

The basketballer looked genuinely insulted, which was somewhat hilarious for the other three.

Well, it would have been if it wasn’t so horrifying…

Aida, seemingly recovered from the previous scene looked at the man dryly.

“ _’He’_ is burning every last shred of heterosexuality I ever had.”

“Oh, _shit.”_ Ryouta hollered from behind the couch.

“Shut up, Kise. You know ‘little Dai-Chan’ isn’t so little.”

The blonde was silent after that.

“Fucking hell…” Riko muttered, “I should have stayed home…”

 


	14. Confrontation.

“This was not what I came here for,” Momoi scolded the pair of men on the couch. Walking between the two of them like an angered mother.

Kise and Aomine, now both fully clothed (thankfully) sat upon the couch, gazes cast embarrassingly to the floor. Everything had been going rather perfect, but of course someone had to go and ruin it.

Daiki wasn’t spiteful, no not at all.

“You shouldn’t have come in without knocking!” Daiki retorted childishly, meeting his friend’s gaze with the same withering look.

Okay, maybe just a little…

He really didn’t like not finishing what he started.

Especially in these instances.

His clothes were particularly uncomfortable right now.

Aomine could see that Kise was feeling the same too, the way that the blonde fidgeted in his seat. It reminded him of the mess he had been in when they were-

_‘Now is not the time for perverted thoughts, Daiki.’_

“We actually did knock,” Riko defended her pink haired companion, looking equally pissed. After she had gotten past all the horror, she found the situation just as irritating as her girlfriend did.

Though, it was hard to admit it wasn’t funny even in the slightest.

The entire situation seemed like it belonged in a television show.

“We didn’t hear you!” Kise whined.

“Of course you didn’t, you were too busy having sex!” Satsuki seemed annoyed, which meant her serious voice came into play. It made her seem a lot more mature than she usually did.

And a whole lot hotter to Riko for some reason.

“Don’t be silly Momocchi, you could have just called me before you came over!”

“I would have, if you actually answered when I called!”

Ah, so that was the core of the problem.

“Where have you been these past two years? I didn’t hear from you once! You were so close, but you didn’t think of contacting me once?” Satsuki didn’t try to conceal the hurt in her voice. Her eyebrows furrowed in frustration at the blonde. She seemed rather upset about the whole ordeal.

Because, in all honesty. She really had missed her friend.

With the blonde leaving like that, Momoi didn’t really know what to think. Aomine had been no help, closing himself off to the world, so uncharacteristically quiet… It made the girl keep her distance. All by herself, Satsuki was left with all of these unanswered questions that everyone around her ignored. Most of them brushing it off with a ‘Kise’s an adult now, he can make his own decisions,’ but Momoi knew something had to be wrong. He knew the blonde’s absence had to be explained somehow.

And today, the pink haired women would get an answer, no matter how difficult.

“I’m sorry Momocchi…” Ryouta looked to the floor once more, his eyes glinting with guilt.

“You better be sorry! I was so worried about you!” She yelled at the model. Her pink eyes filling with the tears she had been desperately trying to hold back.

This night had been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least.

Kise frowned at the woman’s teary speech, standing up to comfort her with a hug. The girl accepted, resting her pink head against his chest as she sniffled.

“I’m sorry Momocchi…” Kise repeated stroking her hair.

Aomine and Riko weren’t exactly sure what to do in a situation like this. Were they supposed to join in and create a group hug? Were they supposed to watch?

Both of those options seemed ridiculously creepy to say the least. So, in its stead, Daiki scowled and so did Aida at the unfolding scene. Not because they were unhappy in particular, it was just that nothing else felt okay to do.

“Don’t think being sweet to me will make me forget what I came here to do!” The woman frowned at the blonde above her. “You’ve got some explaining to do, Ki-Chan.”

The model sighed at the old nickname, closing his eyes. Trying to think of the bare minimum explanation that would satisfy Momoi long enough for him and Aomine to… finish.

It’s not like Satsuki’s presence was unwanted, just now it was getting rather uncomfortable to say the least.

Of course they had to walk in.

Everything had been going great, Aomine’s hand were in his hair as he whispered sweet nothings into his ear…

Now was not the time for such thoughts.

“What do you want to know?” Ryouta asked the girl before him, his blonde eyebrows shooting up in question.

“First of all, how long has ‘that’ been going on?” Momoi gestured to a still-scowling Aomine. It hadn’t been the first question on her long list of things to ask, yet it was the most relevant to the present. Satsuki figured she could found out now, regardless.

“I just came to get an explanation myself, actually.” Daiki answered for Kise, which the blonde was rather grateful for. “And then, well after that-“  
“No need for the specifics.” Riko interrupted before Aomine could purge further into the details of the pair’s sex life.

“So this was the first time?” Momoi looked surprised.

“Well, not the first time. Just the first time in a long time… I came here for a job, and well, Aomine and I kind of… ran into each other.” Kise answered, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Ryouta didn’t want to lie to Satsuki, but the words that spilled out of his mouth weren’t exactly far from the truth. 

Minus the yelling and tears, the story was basically the same.

“Speaking of which, we still actually needed to sort some shit out. So could you like… leave?” Aomine added rudely.

Daiki was selfish, he wanted the blonde all to himself. Especially after he had just got the man back. He didn’t seem to understand that there were other people out there that wanted an explanation as much as Aomine had.

“Don’t be mean, Aominecchi!” Ryouta scolded, frowning at the basketballer. 

“Well we do, we need to figure out what happens next!”

“You can’t just ask people to leave!”  
“Kise, there are much more important matters at hand than manners.”

“I understand that, but it’s still rude.”

It was true, there was so much more to sort out about their adjusted relationship. Daiki was still unsure if he could trust the blonde yet. Aomine was no longer angry, sure, but two years of not seeing each other had caused a hole in their relationship.

It needed to be patched, immediately. And Daiki just wasn’t talking about physically, there were other things too.

But it just so happened that they did the physical things first, you see.

If Satsuki and her girlfriend hadn’t of barged in, they would have gotten through the emotional crap too.

Not that Daiki thought such things were ‘crap’ exactly, he just wasn’t exactly sure what else to call them.

“I’m not leaving until I at least have a few answers!” Satsuki folded her arms in defiance, her pink eyes glistening in determination. Tears were still visible within them, but almost out of sheer willpower, she held them in.

Daiki forgot how stubborn she could be. Hell, the girl could rival Aomine Daiki himself.

Momoi was different, however.

She stood wilfully for divergent things, things that only came up every once in a while.

She picked her battles mindfully.

Unlike her childhood friend before her, who was as stubborn as a mule if he opposed any aspect of the subject.

Aomine knew she wouldn’t leave without answers.

“Fine…” Daiki finally relented, an odd action for the basketball player. Kise looked at him, surprised.

If only the blonde knew just why he gave up so easily.

If only he knew that he gave up one bout of stubbornness for more time with the young model he had just started being reacquainted with.

Satsuki seemed rather shocked as well, but otherwise went on with her obvious interrogation of poor Kise.

\---

“Wait, one last thing.” Kise held his hand up, as the pair were about to exit.

The questioning had been as rigorous as the blonde had expected from his middle school manager. She made sure no detail whatsoever unanswered.

However, some circumstances were… twisted just the slightest bit.

Ryouta neglected to tell Satsuki about how Kise’s last night in Tokyo two years ago had ended up being with Aomine.

The blonde somehow ended up ‘forgetting’ to tell her that. Not that she noticed, which Kise was extremely thankful for.

Satsuki’s eyes widened in realisation the minute the blonde told her about the threats.

How had he become so open about such things?

Maybe it was the emotion of reuniting with so many different people that had made him reckless. But Ryouta couldn’t care less at the moment.

Right now, he was the happiest he could be and that’s all that mattered.

After Kise’s words, Momoi fell silent. Before she enveloped him into another ridiculous hug. The pink haired woman gushed about how ‘you can tell me anything, you know that!’ before taking her leave once more with her brunette companion. Obviously satisfied with the data she had received.

Ryouta could tell she was worried about him. There would be no reassuring in the world to stop her nervousness, so with another promise to call. Kise and Aomine bid the two women goodnight.

Well that was, until Ryouta had a sudden thought.

“Why weren’t you surprised about me and Aominecchi…? Well, I knew you were shocked, but anyone would be if you walked in on that. But you weren’t startled at all to find that me and Aominecchi were a thing, why was that?” Kise was oddly curious how collected the girl had been. Surely it would at least be a little surprising to find your former team mates having sex with each other having no prior knowledge to their relationship?

Aomine’s mind was stuck on lot more simpler things.

Kise had called himself and the basketballer a thing.

They were a ‘thing’ now?  
Daiki oddly liked the thought of that. It wasn’t too complicated, pretty simple. Just like the two of them.

Satsuki snorted at the question.

“Oh please, boys, I would be more surprised if you told me the sky was blue than the pair of you saying you hooked up.”

Aomine and Kise’s mouth parted in surprise.

Were they really that obvious?

The last time Momoi had seen the two of them together before had to have been at least two years ago. Had it been so blatantly obvious that before Daiki had realised his own feelings, Satsuki had recognised them first?

The pink haired woman smiled fondly at the pair of them.

“The way you two looked at each other during high school… middle school, even. I knew you two were destined to be with each other, it was like fate brought you two idiots together. Whether it was to murder each other, or something else. I wasn’t quite sure at the time. But now, well. You two certainly weren’t killing each other were you?”

Kise blushed, which in turn made Aomine blush.

That was certainly a first.

Not that Daiki’s reddened cheeks were all that noticeable. But Ryouta could tell just by the way his eyes were trained on the floor instead of the person he was speaking with. That the man was embarrassed by something. And he certainly wasn’t one to get flustered over something like this… So just what was it.

_‘Shit, Kise’s so cute!’ Aomine’s mind screamed at him. As he felt blood rush to his cheeks._

Momoi nor Riko said anything, which the other pair were both individually grateful for.

The group exchanged goodbyes once more at the door, before the pair closed it once and for all.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the two enjoyed the small bout of silence they were graced with.

“Oh no, they left their pot of hell.” Aomine gestured to the crock pot simmering ominously on the countertop.

Kise looked to where Daiki was pointing, furrowing his eyebrows at the man’s comment.

“Oh it can’t be that bad, you’re so mean, Aominecchi…” Kise winked at the man, strolling over to look at the pot. He didn’t seem to notice the mysterious purple ooze flowing from the lid.

Could it be that the only people that could see such things were ones that had already been cursed?

Ryouta had escaped the wrath of Satsuki’s cooking, for all those years back in middle school. Not because he was avoiding it, but purely because he was in the right place at the right time.

The blonde didn’t know the horrors… the terror Aomine has experienced.

Satsuki made teriyaki burgers taste terrible. **_Teriyaki burgers._**

Maybe Daiki should warn him…

‘ _Pssh…’_

Raising a spoon to his lips, Kise opened his mouth. Swallowing a whole spoonful of the unknown mixture in one gulp.

Aomine gagged looking at the model in disgust.

How the hell had he done that?  
“Hmm, pretty good.” Ryouta licked his lips, taking another spoonful.

“What the fuck?” Daiki had never looked more confused.

Had Kise lost his taste buds along the way?

Had his soul just left his body the second his tongue came into contact with the food? Was his body just a vessel that was desperately trying to act normal without it’s main control centre?

That seemed like the only viable option.

“What’s wrong with this, Aominecchi, I don’t get why you were so rude. Here have a taste-“

“Hell no!”

Daiki had endured Satsuki’s bentos in his schooling period, there was no need for him to eat them afterwards thank you very much.

Kise pouted, “Are you sure? It’s delicious.”

“I’ve never been surer in my life.”

The model frowned, wooden spoon still in hand. “So… what do you want to do?”

Aomine swore he saw Kise seductively lick a bit of food from his cheek.

Or maybe that’s just what he wanted to see.

“It’s not a ‘what’ it’s more of a ‘who.” Daiki replied, smirking.

Ryouta’s face reddened, “you were the one who said we had stuff to talk about!”

“Yeah, but we have some unfinished business, remember?”  
Aomine’s suggestive tone sent Kise over the edge. He had been trying his very best not to pounce him the entire time Satsuki and Riko were here. And now… with no more distractions left.

Kise’s lips were on Aomine’s in less than five seconds.

 


	15. Permanence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yoooo, it is i, your local asshole.

Their love lasted long into the night, exchanges of passion none too lacking. They had a lot of time to make up for, of course.

It was as if their bodies had melded together by sunlight, their arms and legs intertwined with each other so perfectly it looked natural. The blonde’s head had rested against the other’s chest, the rhythmic sound of Daiki’s heartbeat soothing him like the perfect lullaby.

As the largest visible star in the sky rose once more, regrettably bringing day in its stead. Aomine groaned as he tossed an arm over his head to shield his face. The man’s newly awoken mind hadn’t pieced together the activities of last night just yet.  But as it came to him, Aomine felt a strange sense of horror.

What if he looked over, and Kise wasn’t there?              

Daiki dreaded to find out, he almost didn’t want to know such things. He hated that the trust he and the blonde had built hadn’t returned quite yet. Though Aomine expected as much, once things like trust had been broken it was extremely difficult to rebuild them again.

But the basketballer was willing to try, for Kise.

He had spent too many nights alone thinking about the blonde, thinking about what he was up to by now. Daiki had always wondered if Ryouta ever thought of him the past two years.

The past him would always dismiss the thought as stupid hopefulness, scolding his brain for filling his mind with such useless thoughts that were never going to happen.

But now, everything had changed.

Aomine had closure, and even better,

He had Kise.

The blonde he swore he would never want back in his life. Had returned to him, and Daiki had willingly accepted such things.

Another part of Aomine secretly knew this was how it was going to end up. Daiki knew Kise and him were bound to cross paths once more.

The tanned man prayed it would be permanent this time.

It was a strange feeling, a strange wish.

A permanent relationship hadn’t really been on the basketballer’s radar, since, well two years ago. The man had lived vicariously through his life with basketball and sleazy one night stands with any gender, no one in particular taking his fancy. Though, Daiki always did have a preference for blonde hair. Maybe it was an unconscious wanting for the blonde haired model he had shared that night so many years ago with.

 But then that phantom of the past, himself, had come barging back through his life and Aomine didn’t particularly want anything different.

The strangest part was that it didn’t scare Aomine in the slightest.

In fact, Daiki wanted to be with Ryouta, he wanted to be with him night and day.

By God, he wanted to be with that idiot for the rest of his life.

He wanted to beat the blonde at basketball and never get bored at such an opponent. He wanted to stay in bed with the model all morning, doing absolutely nothing but cuddling. He wanted to go with Kise to his stupid photoshoots. He wanted Ryouta to see his games. He wanted to play board games with the blonde, video games, argue, make love, sing, joke… Everything imaginable.

Every trivial thing Aomine couldn’t give two shits about had suddenly become important.

_‘I guess that’s love, eh?’ Daiki remarked to himself but then stopped._

Love?

Was it far too early to do so again?  Was it too early to trust the blonde again.?

Such questions would have to be answered. All within time, Daiki supposed.

Aomine was never patient, though.

Daiki finally had enough courage to turn on his side, praying to every god out there that Kise was beside him.

Aomine reached a hand out, hoping, hoping, hoping…

There was nothing.

Daiki felt the walls of his mind close In on him as his hopefulness was obliterated into tiny, crumbling pieces.

The very heartbreak he had been rebuilding from, it had happened again.

All the pristine sheets held were the warmth of the blonde, who must have departed not long ago.

It was happening again.

Aomine couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. His mouth had gone dry, yet he didn’t want to speak at all.

Sitting bolt upright in the far too empty bed. Daiki put a hand on his face, his nails digging painfully into his skull. His dragged a restless hand across his face, over his eyes.

How could he be so stupid?

The basketballer felt unwanted tears spring up in his eyes. He hated crying. He hated that Kise had made him feel such things again. He hated showing weakness in front of anyone.

But no one was there were they?

Everyone had left him.

And this hadn’t even been the first time. 

The first tear had been slow and lazy, trickling down the side of Daiki’s eye at a leisurely pace. Soon dozens followed, warm flowing tears that he couldn’t seem to stop.

The crippling loneliness that attacked him was intense. It smashed into him until his hard was in tinier pieces than before.

He had been played again.

But for what reason this time?

Was it another ploy for revenge? Had he put his trust in a fake story?  
Daiki heaved a sigh, a shaky breath willing his eyes shut from within his hands. He gathered the sheets in his hands. Pulling the blanket over himself. A substitute for the blonde Aomine had so desperately wanted to hold in his arms once more.

“Aominecchi?”

A voice at the door. A familiar one. One that haunted his nightmares, appeared in his dreams. His fantasy and his dread. One that he thought was now gone forever.

Had the basketballer been too hasty?  
Or was this his mind playing tricks on him?

Daiki sniffled, tearing a hand from his eyes. That had to have been an illusion, Kise couldn’t really be-

There the blonde stood, a towel hanging loosely from his shoulder. In new clothes from yesterday. His hair dripping with moisture as he stood in the doorway. He looked too real to be a mirage, from the hickeys on his neck to the scratches on his toes. This was the real Kise Ryouta.

The young model stood in the doorway, his eyes assessing the situation. He hadn’t expected Daiki to be awake yet. But there he was, curled up in the blankets. Looking like he’d just seen a ghost.

The tanned man took a shaky breath. His eyes still fresh with tears that he wished would stop.

Ryouta seemed to notice the tears the moment Daiki tried to hide them. Making his way over to the basketballer, he moved lightning fast to the bed.

Without another moment’s hesitation he gathered his former team mate in his arms. Enveloping him in an embrace Kise wasn’t sure was welcome. Regardless, Ryouta had never quite seen Daiki like this.

Even on that night, Aomine had never really shed tears like this…

And within the very moments of that ordeal. Kise understood what had went wrong.

This had been very alike to the last time they departed.

Ryouta felt self hatred cut him deep in the gut. He hadn’t realised, he should have woken Aomine up. He should have made sure that the blue haired man knew that he wasn’t going to leave.

Kise hadn’t realised how unintentionally insensitive he had been.

“I’m so sorry, Aominecchi…”

Aomine sniffled, the blonde tightened his hold on him. The model’s dampened arms wrapping around the other man’s neck.

Daiki hated the fact that he was crying. He hated that he didn’t seem to know how to stop. All he felt was crushing relief that he was wrong.

For the very first time in Aomine’s life, he was glad he was incorrect.

Because, unlike last time, Kise was there. He was within his reach, he was comforting him. 

“You idiot…” Daiki muttered between breaths. His sighs sounding muffled within Kise’s chest.

How stupid he must look, crying like a child.

He hadn’t cried like this for such a long time, it brought back a painful wave of nostalgia along with it.

“Don’t think I’d ever leave you again, Aominecchi.” Kise kissed the top of the other man’s head. His hair smelling just like it had all those years ago… The blonde felt wistful.

“What was I supposed to think? You were gone…” Aomine scowled, but didn’t change his position within Kise’s arms.

Daiki was fully aware of how annoyingly clingy he sounded. It was truly a strange characteristic for Aomine to have, even in a time of distress. His emotions just seemed to overwhelm him, trumped all logic and made him have a meltdown.

Kise seemed to be the only one that made him feel that way. The blonde was the only one that seemed to bring out the younger version of himself. The young model broke past every barrier the powerful basketballer had put up with a single action, touch or word.

“You always slept in Aominecchi, I wasn’t sure when you were going to wake up. And well, I was kinda… dirty from last night so I got up and showered. I’m sorry for scaring you, I’ll make sure to wake you up next time.”

Aomine snorted, “yeah, and maybe I can come with you next time.”

Daiki could feel Ryouta’s grin as he shifted his wait to face the man.

“I’d like that.”

Within the time lapse of their conversation, Daiki had stopped sniffing. Rather embarrassed that he had started crying. The basketballer couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried in someone’s arms… And yet, Aomine couldn’t find it within him to be upset being caught in the act.

Being a little red in the face was a lot better than being without Kise Ryouta for the rest of his life, even Aomine was smart enough to know that.

A comfortable silence washed over the two, neither of them speaking. But simply enjoying the other’s presence.

“I hope you still remember that we need to talk about some things.” Kise spoke up after a while, his golden eyes shimmering with mild enthusiasm.

It would be good to see where the two stood… It would be important to know such things. With a thought such as that in mind, Aomine hesitantly agreed.

What if Kise just wanted something physical?

‘ _Oh how the tables have turned’_ , Daiki smiled to himself bitterly. His mind flashing back to all the times people had wished for a relationship with the basketballer. Only to be turned down rather harshly by the man.

Now it was Aomine in the very same situation.

Karma really was a bitch.

“How… How do I start?” The blonde raised his eyebrows in confusion.

What the fuck was he supposed to say?

Ryouta pondered the way to start the sentence before settling on one. His mouth fixed into a delicate line, the blonde took a deep breath. “I know that I hurt you in the past. I know you probably don’t trust me. But I’m willing to give it a try if you want to, I mean. My feelings for you haven’t disappeared at all within these two years…”

Kise took a deep breath.

“So what I want to know is… Do you want to give this a shot?”

Why the hell was Kise nervous?

Why was his breath all shaky?

Was he that concerned that the man would say no?

“Fuck yeah I do!” Aomine said rather enthusiastically, wearing a rather strange grin on his face.

Kise was taken aback by the expression. He had sworn he’d seen such a thing befor-

Back in middle school. Aomine always wore that stupid smile on his face. Before everything had happened, before the Generation of Miracle were big game. It was what Daiki had looked like all those years ago.

Kise’s heart clenches tightly in his chest.

“Perfect.”

\---

“Aomine-Kun’s been gone for some time now, Kagami-Kun. Are you prepared to meet defeat?” Kuroko lightly challenged. His teasing voice was uncommon, for Tetsuya never truly was the gloating type. Though, in instances such as these, the blue haired man couldn’t seem to help himself.

“Shut up, Kuroko. He could have just got caught in traffic or something.” Taiga’s voice wavered ever so slightly.

“He walked there, Kagami-Kun.”

“He could have found someone else to pick up on the way back!”

Kuroko very nearly rolled his cool blue eyes when the redhead said that.

The pair of them sat at the breakfast bar of their two bedroom apartment. Kagami hastily munching down on some fried eggs, whereas Kuroko opted for an early morning vanilla shake.

The blue haired boy smiled, casting his gaze sideways towards his former team mate. “You don’t sound certain of yourself, Kagami-Kun.”

The redhead rolled his eyes, ploughing further into his enormous plate of food.

\---

“Aominecchi, one more game!” Kise’s blonde hair dripped in front of his face. The young model sweating from the exercise.

Oh how long it had been since he last played a game of basketball…

The pair had been out on the way to get breakfast when they’d spotted a basketball court. And lo and behold, some idiot had left their basketball lying there, abandoned.

Kise would like to thank that idiot, whoever the hell he was.

Despite losing for all three games, Ryouta was still happy playing with Daiki again. It brought back many happy memories, alongside many painful.

Though every kind of recollection of the blonde’s brought melancholy nostalgia with it. It was just Kise’s way of life now.

“Sorry, Kise. But I gotta go, practice is soon and Kagami and Kuroko are probably flipping shit.”

Only Aomine would want to play basketball just before basketball practice…

Maybe it was selfish but Kise didn’t feel like releasing Aomine from his grasps just yet.

“Can I come with you then? I haven’t seen yours, Kagamicchi’s and Kurokocchi’s apartment yet! I can stay with Kurokocchi while you and Kagamicchi train!” The blonde’s eyes sparkled with hope. The gold flakes in his irises shining with delight.

Aomine pondered for a mere second.

“Come on, then.” Daiki smiled at the man, motioning forward to his former opponent.

Kise grinned, gratefully rushing to the man’s side. The blonde bumped his shoulders against Aomine affectionately. Smiling at the basketballer like he had just put the sun in the sky for him.

‘ _This is what it should have been like for the past two years….’ Ryouta thought, regret pulling in his chest._

“Jeez, what’s with that gloomy face of yours?” Daiki scowled, looking at the blonde as he raised his dark eyebrows in question.

“Oh, it’s nothing.” Kise sighed, “I was just thinking of how this is what it should have been from the very beginning.”

Aomine pulled at the young model’s shoulder, his tanned arm slung around as he drew Kise closer. A strangely affectionate gesture that made Ryouta’s insides squeeze almost painfully.

“I’m still sorry for the way I behaved, if had of known I wouldn’t have been such an asshole about it.”

“If you weren’t an asshole about it, it just wouldn’t have been you, Aominecchi.”

“Shut up, Kise.”

“You know I’m right!”

“…Yeah.”

\---  
An expected outcome.

Kimoi new as much. He was waiting for the blonde to make such a move.

It had taken nearly two years, but the revenge would be worth it. Kumo had waited, prevented himself from sending too many more messages. He had wanted the blonde to have false hope that the little threat in his life had faded away into oblivion. He wanted the young model to think he had escaped the phantom.

When in reality, it was only just beginning.

A cruel smile appeared on the gangly man’s features. His dark eyes lighting up in pure delight.

The man was growing impatient. He twitched with agitation as he glanced at the blonde. Kise had no idea Kimoi had been watching him from the moment he left his hotel.

No idea at all.

The young model’s guard had been lowered because of the very man he left two years ago. Kumo wasn’t stupid, he knew now wasn’t the right time to strike.

He would put his plan into action soon. But not yet, no, he had to hold back. He had to wait for the perfect moment. The perfect opportunity…

The perfect time to destroy Kise Ryouta once and for all.

But no, Kimoi didn’t just want to obliterate the man, he wanted him to _suffer._

Kumo had remained quiet for far too long. He was growing impatient. And now that this Aomine Daiki character appeared to once again be in the blonde’s life again. It was like fate was drawing him to toy with Kise. Kimoi’s feelings throughout such an amount of time had broiled. Into one of such a possessive hate that seemed indescribably strong.  He didn’t know if this was vengeance anymore, all he knew was that Kise would be his to do whatever he wanted with.

And his alone.

Aomine Daiki posed a threat to such a plan. But then again, maybe he was just the moment Kimoi had been waiting for. 

Regardless, he too, needed to be dealt with accordingly.

But who’s to say Kumo wasn’t allowed to have any fun with it?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I KNOW I KNOW... Aomine PROBABLY wouldn't cry. But like... i wanted him to.  
> Don't kinkshame me.  
> 


	16. Pancakes.

Though his patience wore as thin as his body, as his soul, Kimoi Kumo was waiting for the opportune moment. It would eventually present itself, he was sure of it.

Whether it was tomorrow, or in a year.

Kimoi would wait as long as he needed to.

Thankfully, the moment came a lot faster.

And he had Aomine Daiki to thank for that.

\---

“Kurokocchi!” Kise cheered, gliding through the front door like he lived there. His hands were raised high in the air, his blonde hair perfect as always.

“Shut up, idiot, you’re going to wake them up.” Aomine scowled, lightly hitting the young model on the side of his head. Ryouta pouted, staring at the tanned man with puppy dog eyes.

Daiki clicked his tongue, trying not to dwell on the fact that he looked fucking adorable.

“We are already quite awake, do not fret, Aomine-Kun.” Kuroko appeared from what felt like nowhere. Scaring the life out of the pair before him.

Aomine made a disgruntled noise from the back of his throat, Kise following suit with a shrill squeak that sounded a lot like a mouse.

Even after two years of living with the guy, Daiki never could get over his invisible presence.

There had been far too many times where Aomine had been showering for a solid three minutes before even noticing the blue haired boy brushing his teeth by the bathroom mirror like nothing was wrong…

“Oh look whose back?” Kagami turned the corner, his shoulder resting lightly on the wall to his right. He had come from the left corner, the kitchen. Which had to mean the redhead had been cooking breakfast. The basketballer’s stomach grumbled at the mere mention of breakfast.

Taiga scanned the room, his eyes fixating on the blonde companion Daiki had brought along with him. “And you brought Kise,”

“Don’t sound so disappointed!” Ryouta whined.

“Looks like I win, Kagami-Kun.” The teacher hid a tiny shit-eating smile behind a hand as he looked at his companion.

“We don’t know yet!” Taiga mentioned, knowing full well that there wasn’t much doubt in the situation at hand.

“The hell are you guys talking about?” Aomine crossed his arms, rather irritated he wasn’t aware of their little inside joke.

“Well, uh…” The redhead trailed off, scratching his neck uncomfortably.

“Did you and Kise-Kun have sex last night?” Tetsuya filled in, his face devoid of any awkwardness a normal person would have.

Aomine shouldn’t have expected any less. Kuroko Tetsuya was most certainly from another planet where asking such things was ethical.

However, on planet Earth. Daiki was still desperately trying to sputter out a half-decent reply. Kise looked about as flustered as he did. There was no help coming from the blonde, most certainly. The young model in question looked about as red as Kagami’s hair.

“Uhh…” Aomine mumbled, his hand scratching the nape of his neck. Simple powers of deduction would present that SOMETHING had happened between Kise and Aomine last night. Before, the two barely spoke and now Daiki was showing up the night after with the blonde in tow.  It looked completely suspicious. Even Aomine was perceptive enough to know such a thing. The basketballer knew that there would be absolutely no point in lying.  “Yes?”

What could only be identified as a triumphant grin appeared on Kuroko’s stony face as he looked at Kagami.

Why the hell was he happy about Aomine’s sex life?

Daiki was certain Kuroko had never looked this amused about his previous hook-ups. For all the blue haired boy knew, that was all this was.

So just why in the world did Tetsuya have such an expression on his face?

Kagami looked at the shorter man, his eyebrows furrowing in defeat. The redhead scowled, uttering a hasty; “Shut up, Kuroko.”

Tetsuya frowned, “But Kagami-Kun, I hadn’t said anything.”

“Yeah well, just shut up.”

“Am I missing out on something?” Daiki asked, entering the odd conversation.

“Kagami-Kun and I placed a wager on whether or not you and Kise-Kun had sexual relations last night. I won.”

“You bet on that?!” Kise exclaimed, his mouth turned shrewdly into a pout.

“We were really, really bored. And besides, I kind of wanted to lose anyway.” Kagami frowned, crossing his arms.

“Yeah sure thing,” Daiki called sarcastically.

“Hey, if it gets you outs of the piss poor mood you’ve been in, I’d rather lose a shitty bet than have to deal with you!” Taiga retorted with the same spite.

“Fuck off, Kagami, I’m always in a piss poor mood!”

“Well at least he admitted it…” Kuroko whispered, his gaze switching back to his usual, calculating one.

“Don’t be mean to Aominecchi! He’s had a hard day!” Kise called in the tanned man’s defence. Clutching Daiki’s shirt as if to protect him from his two roommates. Aomine blushed a little, not used to the affectionate contact.

“I’m sure his day wasn’t the only thing that was hard.” Kagami frowned at the two, his eyes squinting down on them suspiciously.

“Don’t be crude, Kagami-Kun,” Kuroko scolded.

“I saw the chance and I took it.”  
“Now was not the time, Kagami-Kun we have important matters to discuss.” Kuroko frowned, turning back towards Kise and Aomine.

“Why does this feel like I’m about to get a scolding from my parents?” Daiki asked, not quite sure if he was joking or not.

“Not a scolding, quite, more like… an informative lecture.”

“Yeah, so sit your asses down.” Taiga smiled at Tetsuya, going along with his little scheme.

“But we have basketball practice!” Daiki whined, complying nevertheless.

“Not until noon, dumbass, its eight thirty in the morning.”

“Holy shit, _really?”_ Aomine seemed genuinely surprised. Daiki legitimately couldn’t remember a time he was up this early without being shaken to death by Satsuki or his mother. Sometimes both at the same time.

“I was surprised too,” Kise added, “I thought he wasn’t going to be up for another two hours at least, so I went to take a shower. But then when I came back he was-“

“Not another word, Kise.” Aomine’s dangerous tone cut the blonde off abruptly.

There was no way in hell Daiki was going to let Kagami and Kuroko know he _started crying_ this morning.

Not that it was emasculating or anything, really, but Aomine had been none to never cry in front of people.

He had a reputation to uphold.

And the first year game against Seirin and Rakuzan definitely did not count to that reputation.

Luckily enough, Kagami and Kuroko did not seem to notice the little exchange and followed suit onto the couch.

The sofa was crowded with all four of them on there, so Tetsuya and Ryouta eventually opted to sitting on the soft rug instead of being cramped.

“Alright, this relationship discussion is now in session.” Kuroko began speaking, his soft words making no sense at all to Aomine.

“Just what the fuck is a ‘relationship discussion?’” Daiki interrupted, scowling as per usual.

“Oh! Oh! Pick me!” Kise raised his hand excitedly, bouncing up and down on his ass just like he used to in middle school.

Kuroko pointed at the blonde, only slightly amused at his enthusiasm.

“Is it where you discuss relationships?”

“Correct, amazing job, Kise-Kun.” Tetsuya smiled, using his teacher voice on the young model.

Kise hadn’t been around Tetsuya enough lately to know such a tone so he was none the wiser.

Not that Ryouta was ever wise in the first place.

“Dumbass…” Daiki mumbled under his breath.

“I heard that, Aominecchi!”

“Good…”

“I see you two are back to acting like pre-schoolers again.” Kuroko sighed, his job as a teacher was taxing enough. Taking care of twenty five sugar filled children was hard.

But taking care of two overgrown children was even harder.

“Anyway, back to the point at hand.” Tetsuya spoke once more, knowing full well that they wouldn’t get anywhere with the rate they were going at.

“Yeah, what the hell are you going to talk about? I’ve already heard enough shit from Satsuki, I don’t need you ganging up on me too.”

“Relax, Aomine-Kun, I just wish to ask you and Kise-Kun a few questions.”

“That’s what Momoiichi said!” Ryouta joined in on the whining session, proving Kuroko’s previous statement true.

“Wait… when did you talk to Momoi?” Kagami chimed in, lying his head down on the couch.

Kuroko sighed again.

“She and Rikocchi walked in on us doing the nasty!” Cried Kise, his voice devoid of the shame that once surfaced across his face.

_Aomine remembered asking just why Kise added the ‘cchi’ to Aida Riko’s name this morning. All the young model said in return was that ‘if she could walk in on the two of us having sex and not faint on the spot, she earns my respect.’_

“People! We are getting rather off topic.” Tetsuya interrupted their little exchange, clapping his hands together firmly.

“Right! Sorry, Kurokocchi!”

“Sorry, Kuroko.”

“Okay. Now, Aomine-Kun, Kise-Kun… Are you two dating?”

Kuroko’s question sounded rather serious. And Aomine was once again reminded of how much the blue haired man seemed like a concerned parent.

Which was ridiculous, considering they were all the same age.

“Yes, we are.” Daiki answered firmly, making Tetsuya’s face erupt in a small bout of surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting you to be so forward, Aomine-Kun.”

“When am I never not forward?” The basketballer returned.

“You’re a _'tsundere'_ when it comes to feelings and shit, even I can see that.” Kagami backed his boyfriend up, now lying sprawled out on the couch beside Aomine.

“I am not!” Daiki huffed angrily.

“See!?”

“Holy crap, he is, he really is!” Kise pointed at the tanned man excitedly.

“It is true, Aomine-Kun, you are displaying some rather _‘tsundere’_ qualities.”

“Shut up, all of you are assholes!”

“The more you insult us, the more it proves my point.” Kagami chided disinterestedly, looking at his nails with fake fascination.

Aomine ‘tched’ and returned to being silent.

“Any more questions, Kurokocchi?” Kise asked, hugging a pillow he must have dug up from somewhere.

“Did you tell him?” Tetsuya asked quietly, his eyes falling ever so slightly to the ground. Almost as if he was hesitant to ask.

Kise’s face dimmed as he clutched the pillow tighter, “yeah, I told him.”

“Good, Kise-Kun, I’m proud of you.”

Something about the whole situation really got to him. Kise had all of his friends back again, he had people that genuinely cared about how he was doing. Not about how he looked, or how much money he had. Kuroko, Kagami, Aomine, Momoi, they all wanted him to be safe and happy.

Ryouta’s eyes began glistening with tears.

What with him crying all the time? How embarrassing… The blonde hides his face in the pillows, trying to compose himself.

Aomine swears he doesn’t remember KIse being this sappy on the basketball courts in high school.

Despite Daiki being rather thick headed when it came to emotions, all he wanted to do was gather Ryouta up in his arms just like the blonde had done to him. He just wanted to hold him until those little specks in his eyes faded into dull memories.

The basketballer swore then and there that he’s going to find whoever did this to Kise himself and make the sick bastard pay for what he’d done.

Nothing should make Kise Ryouta’s face cloud in such a way.

He was supposed to be like the sun in the sky, the stars in the night. Bright and shining, sometimes annoying, but always there in Aomine’s eyes.

“Thank you so much, Kurokocchi.” Kise sniffles, but doesn’t cry.

Tetsuya smiled at the blonde. Looking at him with pride. Because, in all honesty. Kuroko was really proud of the man. He had gained up enough courage to start telling people about the hardships that had happened to him these past years. He was brave enough to tell Kuroko, he was brave enough to tell Kagami. And finally, he was brave enough to tell Aomine.

Kuroko had a deeper respect for the blonde now than he ever did growing up with him as a team mate, and later a rival.

Tetsuya’s mind then flicked on to something a lot less important, but still had enough significance to bring his mind to its senses.

“Okay, well, Kagami-Kun and I just finished making breakfast. We have some extra if you would like some.”

He really wanted that vanilla shake he’d left on the counter.

“You didn’t help at all!” Taiga growled, eyeing the blue haired boy with irritation.

“I made the coffee.”

“Gee, _thanks.”_

At the mention of food, Aomine and Kise perked right up, their rather troubled expressions turning into ones of mild excitement.

The blonde sniffed once more, most of the emotions welling up inside of him had dissipated away and he was calming down. His heart thudded happily this time in his chest as he followed Kuroko to their little kitchen.

The place was small, granted that Kise spent most of his time in gigantic hotel suites probably didn’t add to the apartment’s appeal.

Though, there was some kind of strange quirkiness to the place that Ryouta couldn’t find anywhere but here.

There were at least half a dozen basketballs thrown around the small living room where Kise and Aomine had entered through. The blonde suspected that even more were confined in both of the bedrooms alongside it. The squeaky timber floorboards were mostly covered up by various coloured rugs strewn across the floor. And the bland walls were filled with photos, paintings and all in between.

Adorning the bookshelf, even more photo frames, and dozens of the Generation of Miracles, the Seirin team and even more people Kise had never seen in his life. Ryouta even felt a little smug when he saw a photo of Aomine standing there along with his Touou team from back in high school.

The young model felt his steps waver on the smallest frame, a tiny silver lined one that could have easily been overlooked.

A photo of himself, standing beside Aomine, the tanned man’s arm slung around his shoulder with a goofy grin on his face. Kise looked upon the boy with adoring eyes and the slightest of smiles that could have meant anything at the time. It had to have been from their second year of middle school. 

They both looked so young…

Kise smiled, picking up the piece as he looked upon it with a deep and painful nostalgia.

Even when Ryouta had abandoned the basketballer, even after he never contacted him again. Aomine had still kept a photo of just Kise and himself there.

“What are you looking at?” Daiki asked from behind him, a dark blue eyebrow raising in question. He peaked over the man’s shoulder, his face flushing ever so slightly.

“Uh… yeah, I-“Aomine fumbled through his words. Raising a hand to the back of his neck and scratching it.

 Kise didn’t wait for him to speak again as he pressed a sweet kiss on the man’s cheek.

“Aominecchi’s so sentimental.” Ryouta teased, his voice barely above a whisper.

Daiki scoffed, “Come on, Kagami made pancakes.”

\---

“Aomine Daiki, age 20, plays basketball for Japan. He is approximately six foot three and weighs eighty five kilograms. His sluggish attitude is directed towards everything other than basketball and is generally brash. He lives with former team mate, Kuroko Tetsuya and present team mate- former rival, Kagami Taiga. In a small apartment in the middle of the city. His recent reunion with my Ryouta is unsatisfactory, as the last time they met, he posed a threat and a rival to I. He must be dealt with accordingly.” Kumo listed off his information about the man to himself. As if it was a completely normal thing to do. His fists clenched uncomfortably as his voice wavered.

The ever growing rage boiling inside him would soon be sated.

“It appears he is once again associated with Ryouta, he _loves_ him. I can’t, can’t, can’t have that. No!” Kimoi shouts, slamming his hand on the wall until he felt a throbbing from within it. The darkness of his motel room casted a shadow on him, making the mystery surrounding the man all that much more true.

Kumo began brandishing all he would need for such a plan.

Such an _intricate_ plan.

Kimoi felt a grin that hurt his cheeks appear on his face. “Perfect, perfect, perfect. Now Ryouta will be finally mine to do with whatever I want with. Three long years of waiting for the moment of attack and now thanks to Aomine Daiki, the time has finally come.”

A dark laugh came from the man.

“I don’t know whether to kill you or kiss you, Aomine Daiki.”

Licking the large knife in front of him, his long tongue darting around the edges. He felt the metallic taste of blood seep into his mouth, a taste he was accustomed to.

A wretched smile crept up upon the man’s lips. “But who’s to say I can’t do both?”

 


	17. Stars.

“You sure you guys don’t wanna come?” Kagami’s eyebrows raised in question.

The pair looked rather unsure.

However, Kuroko was quick to answer.

“Kise-Kun and I are fine, I have a few things to tell him about. So please, go on.” Tetsuya’s smooth voice echoed through the room as he placed down his fork.

Aomine looked wary, not exactly willing to leave Kise at the moment. Especially after he’d just gotten him back.

The basketballer wondered if that feeling would ever leave him. That intense need to be by Kise’s side.

“Are you sure?” Daiki all but pouted, his eyes drawn to the ground.

“Don’t worry, Aominecchi, I’ll be fine. I’ve survived this long so have a little faith!” Ryouta smiled, his grin wry.

“Come on, dumbass, let’s get going. Coach will murder us if we’re late.” Taiga rested a hand on Daiki’s shoulder sending him a somewhat reassuring look.

“He’s already gonna murder us.” Aomine replied shortly.

“True, but it can’t hurt to be punctual.”

“Punctual? I didn’t know you knew such big words, Bakagami.”

“…Asshole,” muttered Taiga, slinging his sports bag over his shoulder. He placed a small kiss on Kuroko’s head as he made his way to the front door. Tetsuya smiled and then went back to eating his breakfast.

“See ya.” Aomine gave a tiny hand gesture to the two men still sitting upon the counter. Kise winked. His golden eyes somewhat… promiscuous.

After so many years of being so in sync with each other, Aomine understood immediately.

The tanned man grinned,

Seems like Daiki would be in for quite a treat when he returned.

Kise always seemed to know how to calm Aomine down, this was definitely no exception. The blonde, though rather thick-headed, was quite the quick thinker.

Nothing like a post-practice sex session to look forward to to calm Daiki’s nerves.

Now giddy, Aomine all but skipped to practice. His mind running two things at once.

Basketball and Kise.

What a wonderful combination.

Just like it used to be in high school.

As the tanned man closed the door behind him, Kagami gave him a suspicious glance to this side. His red eyes putting holes through the side of Aomine’s face.

“What?” Daiki scowled, looking at his team mate.

“You turned awfully chipper all of a sudden.”

Aomine gave him an evil grin. “Looks like I’m finally going to get you back for all those times you made me hear you and Tetsu having sex.”

Taiga groaned, putting his face in his hands.

\---

“You seem awfully happy for someone who just got a beating from the coach, Aomine-San.” A team mate called, his voice teasing. He was one of the braver ones, Shiki-Kun, he wasn’t afraid at all of Aomine Daiki in the slightest.

The group sat along the benches and on the floor. Taking needy gulps from their water bottles, sweat dripping from most of their faces.

“Yeah, what’s up with that? Your head are all up in the clouds!”

What was with people noticing Aomine’s moods all of a sudden? Was his change in attitude really that much of a surprise?

It was true that Daiki had been somewhat… dazed for a majority of practice. Copping a basketball in the face more than once definitely didn’t help. Especially after Kagami nearly died laughing because of it. He was still better than everyone else on the caught so he figured no one would care.

Or notice, for that matter.

“It’s because he got laid!” Taiga yelled back on Daiki’s behalf, a mischievous smile on his face.

That seemed to catch everyone’s attention.

It wasn’t as if this was an irregular occurrence. Aomine participated in sexual relations annoying regularly, but even the team noticed something seemed rather different in his demeanour this morning.

Well, according to them, anyway.

“But Aomine-San gets laid all the time!” Another man hollered, a brunet that’s name escape Aomine entirely. The man cupped his hands to carry his voice across the room.

Why had everyone gotten so brave all of a sudden?

It wasn’t like they were terrified of Aomine or anything. They just seemed to…. Be wary of the man. They had seen what he was like on the court and would prefer not to get on his bad side.

So why now did they just happen to speak up?

“Yeah, but this one’s special.”

Kagami’s words resulted in the whole team hooting.

“See! He isn’t even listening to what I’m saying right now.” Taiga was having way too much fun with this. The redhead was fully aware he would face repercussions soon enough, but for the time being it seemed like the opportune moment to tease Aomine. “You’re a fucking asshole!” Kagami called, only for the insult to fall on deaf ears.

This was great.

Taiga really needed something happy right now. The redhead was rather down in the dumps about the whole ordeal with his coach. He really hated disappointing him, and well, even though he supposed he earned that wack in the head. It hurt like a bitch regardless.

“Yo, Aomine, I just brought you a burger.”

“Aomine, there’s fifteen topless girls outside.”

“Aomine, Mai-Chan just told me she wants to play one-on-one with you.”

Still, nothing. Ridiculous.

“Hey, Aomine, Kise’s over there.”  
Aomine’s head swooped up like a bird looking for its prey. “Where?”

The chortling laughter that came out of Kagami’s mouth caused Aomine to frown. “Where’s Kise?”

“Oooh, who’s Kise?” A group of their team mates seem to gather around them loosely, looking at the two, rather amused at the interaction.

It seemed when It came to Aomine’s love life, people didn’t know when to butt the hell out.

“Kise is…” Daiki began his sentence, but cut himself off abruptly. The blonde himself showing up in his mind for the thousandth time today. His golden eyes piercing right through his heart in the best kind of way. His pale skin glistening like the stars in the sky.

“Blonde,” One word and their eyebrows shot up to their hair lines.

“Oooh.”

“Tall,”

“Ah.”

“A model.”

“OOOH.”

They seemed amazed. And sure, Aomine wanted to say more. But now he was thinking even more about Ryouta.

The very thought of Kise right now had Aomine grinning like a giant fucking goofball. Daiki couldn’t even remember the last time he had been this happy, and it was all because of that blonde.

Kise had invaded his life once more, and now he was invading his mind.

“Jesus Christ, that expression is terrifying!”

“He’s got it bad.”

“Holy crap, whoever this chick is, she must be pretty amazing!”

Kagami blew air out of his mouth at the comments that just seemed to keep on coming. He found it rather amusing everyone was interested in the guy’s love life.

Well, considering Aomine was quite an asshole to all of them.

Scratch that, he’s an asshole to everyone.

Regardless, the situation was a humorous one to oversee.

A slam of the door brought everyone’s head to the direction of the noise.

“Aominecchi~”

Daiki looked up at that. The voice was far too familiar for him to mishear it anymore.

“What are you doing here?” The basketballer kept up his grouchy façade up, despite his heart feeling like it would jump out of his chest.

Just what was Kise doing here?

Not that Aomine cared, though, he was rather curious. However, he even happier to see that Kise was here.

“Me and Kurokocchi were bored after we finished talking, so we made you and Kagamicchi bentos to eat!” The blonde held both lunchboxes up in a victorious pose. His right leg kicking out dramatically.

The lack of an ominous aura around the boxes depicted that Kuroko had most likely made both of them while Kise watched.

“Tetsu? Where’s he?” Daiki scoped the area, his eyes searching for the blue haired man but to no avail.

“Right here, Aomine-Kun.”

Of course, Kuroko somehow appeared right under Daiki’s nose after that.

“For fucks sake, stop doing that.”

“Language, Aomine-Kun.”

“Who are these people, and why are they disturbing practice!” The coach’s voice boomed over the rest of them, sending a mild chill down the tanned man’s spine.

“We’re on break anyway, chill out Oldman.” Aomine growled, his eye lazily flicking towards the angered man before him.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Kuroko Tetsuya,” the kindergarten teacher extended his hand out to the man regardless of Daiki’s irritable insult.

“Good to know at least one of your friends has manners,” The coach replied shortly, reaching for the man’s hand.

Daiki clicked his tongue but said nothing further.

The older man stopped on the presence of the blonde. His usually squinted eyes widening just the slightest bit. It was strange to see the uncanny look of surprise on the man’s face. Sometimes it felt like the coach didn’t have any emotions but anger.

“You’re… Kise Ryouta.”

“Ah, so you’ve heard of me?” The model’s question was a rhetorical one, but it was answered anyway.

“You’re the ace from Kaijo, of course I have!” The old man looked practically star struck, which Aomine found increasingly disturbing.

Kise smiled and nodded, cocky. _Of course._  
“Wait… Kise? As in Kise, Kise? Like the Kise that Aomine kept on getting distracted on? Kise the model? The blonde, tall, model Kise?”

Looks like someone had figured it out.

Not that it was necessary to add that many ‘Kise’s’ into one line of speech, regardless of the level of surprise.

Silence fell across the room, no one quite knew how to react after the realisation. There were a lot of surprised looks and gaping mouths.

Luckily, Aomine being Aomine simply said;

“I was not getting distracted over that idiot!”

He then huffed, crossing his arms like a petulant child.

“That’s so mean, Aominecchi!” Ryouta pouted, glaring at the basketballer, hurt flashing in his eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Aomine gives in, looking to the floor. He usually wouldn’t give in so easily, but he really didn’t want Kise to leave right now.

He could show off if Ryouta was here, and Daiki _loved_ showing off.

Especially for Kise.

“Holy shit, this guy made Aomine apologise in twenty seconds flat! He MUST be the one.” Shiki called once more, a smirk quite akin to Aomine’s on his pale, freckled face.

Daiki wanted to punch it right off.

Thankfully, however with that well timed comment, everyone returned to their neutral gazes. It was quite a bizarre scenario that was handled ridiculously easy.

It was rather odd they took such a natural approach to the sight of Aomine dating another guy. It wasn’t exactly a common thing to speak of in public. Homosexual relations was still quite the taboo in Japan.

Daiki hadn’t expected such a calm reaction.

Maybe they were better than Daiki had expected. The basketballer supposed they weren’t exactly bad guys… they just weren’t as good at basketball as him.

“Shut up, assholes.” The tanned man growled, despite his train of thought. Mildly flustered about the situation at hand.

Any normal person would be.

Still, when the hell had Aomine ever blushed so much in the space of a few days?

It was getting embarrassing…

“Awww, were you telling your team mates about me?” The blonde grinned, his head tilting to the side rather adorably.

“Nah, Kagami did.” Another man pointed at the redhead in question. Taiga looked up, rice ball halfway shoved into his mouth.

“I dun knerf wert yer talkin’ about.” Kagami mumbled, food still imbedded into his mouth. Aomine flinched in disgust when he saw bits of rice fall on to the floor.

“ANYWAY PEOPLE!” Coach shouted, his voice booming off the ceiling in the same fashion it always did. “Let’s get back to practice, break is over.”

This resulted in a dozen groans.

“You guys are on the national team, for Christ’s sake. Shouldn’t you be more excited?”

“But coach, we were getting some high quality gossip here! To think a jerk like Aomine would actually land Kise Ryouta astounds me.”

That Shiki needed to get socked in the face.

The team mates around Aomine were getting way too comfortable.

Daiki shot the man in question a death glare.

“Play nice, Aominecchi,” Kise warned, frowning at him like he was scolding a toddler.

“Ugh, not you too.” Daiki mumbled, shuffling over sluggishly, but eagerly to the next game that was about to start.

Aomine wouldn’t admit that he was rather pleased to have Kise watching him. But it would be incorrect of him to deny it if he was asked.

The thought of being able to show off in front of Kise was a very appealing prospect to Aomine.

And he decided to make the most of it.

\---

“Are you going to explain why you wished to see Aomine-Kun practice?” Kuroko asked after a while. Kise and the small shadow had been sitting on the bench, watching as their boyfriends zipped around the court like a pair of wild animals. There was something majestic in the way they both moved. Almost as if they were the direct opposites of each other, colliding together.

They were team mates now, but the rivalry had never ended.

“I don’t really know myself, I just, I wanted to see what he was like on the court again.” The blonde frowned, not making much sense to himself let alone Kuroko.

“But hadn’t you just gotten back from playing one-on-one with him when you arrived at the apartment?” Tetsuya replied with another question, obviously curious about the young model’s intentions.

“Yeah, I know, that’s the weird part. I guess I wanted to see from a distance if he’s changed at all.”

“Changed?”

“I don’t know, just, after these years of being apart from each other. I kind of felt like he might have moved on without me. That maybe his basketball had become a totally different world from my own.”

Kuroko nodded, thoughtful. “And, is it?”  
Kise smiled at his friend. “He hasn’t changed one bit.”

\---

“You know, Kise, I was wondering… Do you remember back in middle school, when we used to look at the stars after practice?”

Aomine and Kise had broken away from their companions, the other pair seeming far too eager to leave them alone. It was straight after basketball practice, a ridiculously long session. The sky was darkening gradually, yet Aomine didn’t feel tired at all.

Though Kagami and Kuroko had said they would be going home immediately.

Daiki however, suspected they may have been watching from afar. Not that he particular cared about whatever the hell those two did in their spare time.

Ryouta grinned, “I sure do.”  
He recalled upon such nights with a nostalgic fondness, even despite the pain that the memories sent his way. Despite the ever crushing guilt that preyed on him when he thought of Aomine all alone.

There were some things that couldn’t simply be sullied by the darkest of situations.

“Even then, I think I kind of liked you, you know.” Daiki admits, feeling like he should let Ryouta know. He’s not quite sure as to why, maybe it’s getting something else of his chest. Aomine’s not really sure.

But Kise’s reaction gives him a reason.

The blonde smiles humbly.

Something Kise would _never_ do.

Act humbly.

But here he was, with that cute little half-grin.

It locks butterflies into Daiki’s chest and throws away the key.

“I think I did too,” the young model says in return.

It was true, he did have feelings for Aomine for some time. They just seemed to be buried somewhere deep within him. Kise wasn’t even sure what type of emotions they were at the time. He tried to think of himself and Daiki as simple rivals, but the fact that Kise thought about him all the time, thought about his lips, his eyes, his stupid smirk.

Now that Kise looks back on it, the blonde Is certain he had had a crush on the basketballer before him for some time now.

He had just been dull enough to not realise for the longest of times.

“It’s getting kinda dark.” Aomine sighs, scratching his head. “Maybe we should head back, we don’t want to-“

“Nonsense, Aominecchi! Let’s look at the stars!” Kise’s lips turned upwards, grabbing on to the tanned man’s hand.

“This is the city, dumbass, there’s not going to be any stars!” Daiki growled, was Kise not aware of such a thing?

Well, not that Aomine was struggling against him all that much.

“I know a place!”

“How do you know a place? You’ve been here for like three days!”

“I have my sources, dear Aominecchi, don’t you worry about that.”  
“Tch, fine.”

Aomine gave in fully, feeling his own feet dragging along Kise’s as they rushed to this illicit ‘place’ that Kise had described.

\---

“Holy shit, you were right.” Aomine stares up in awe at the sky. Stars littered the atmosphere, tiny white specs of light in a mix of the darkest blue. They glistened in the half moon light, so far away yet so close at the same time.

“I’m always right,” Kise replies back haughtily, putting both hands on his hips.

“Not when it comes to maths tests,” Daiki snorted, kicking the blonde’s heels lightly.

“Who needs maths when you have looks like these?” Purred Kise, dragging a soft hand over his perfectly styled hair.

“What’s twelve times thirteen?” The basketballer asked shortly.

“Do you know?” Kise shot back.

“Uhhh….”  
“Exactly.”  
Despite the insult that Aomine had just taken part in. The man couldn’t help but smile, it felt just like their days back at Teiko.

Except now he could finally…

“Come here,” Daiki plonks down on the grass, motioning with his hand for the blonde to draw closer.

Kise complies, rather curious.

The second the young model sits beside him, an arm is flung around Ryouta and they’re kissing again.

“So lazy, making me come to you.” Kise sighs in fake resignation.

“I can stop if you want.”

“Nope!”

Ryouta places his lips on Daiki’s once more, sealing off any other smart ass remarks the basketballer undoubtedly had.

\---

“Woah look! Those stars look like a giant flower!”

“They do not.”

“They do too.”

“Nah.”

“Yeah.”  
“Nah.”

“YEAH.”

“NAH.”

“YEAH.”

\---

The pair spent countless hours on that hill. Secluded from the rest of society.

Aomine looked at the stars maybe three times.

He looked at Kise about three hundred.

Daiki catches every detail about the blonde like this is still some cruel dream. He sees those dark eyelashes, contrasting his sunny appearance. Those golden eyes, that match so beautifully with his hair. And his smile, quite possibly the greatest thing of them all.

He looks at Ryouta and he sees the sun, he sees the stars, he sees yellow tulips, he sees beautiful flowers in an orchid.

How could he have gone so long without him?

Aomine wasn’t sure himself, but he knew he never wanted to again.

                                     

 

 


	18. Onion Gratin Soup.

“Aominecchi, get up.” Kise shook the man beside him vigorously. Knowing full well that his attempt would be in vain, but trying nevertheless.

“Ngh.” Was Daiki muffled reply.

“Come on, I need to go to work!”

Aomine pulled the blonde closer, trapping him inside his arms. “No, you’re staying with me.”

“Aominecchi~” The young model whined, kicking at the man lightly. “I’m gonna be late!”

“You’re not going to be late, you’re not going at all.”

Kise huffed, though the idea of staying in bed with Aomine all day did sound ridiculously appealing. He really did have to go to work. The blonde had a shoot, it was the main reason he was here in general. Ryouta couldn’t just skip it, his manager would kill him.

Kise wished he meant that figuratively.

But the blonde was certain he would actually die if he didn’t get to that shoot on time.

Pushing on the other man’s tanned arms. He struggled free of his grasp. The lovely warmth of Aomine escaping him as he collapsed dramatically on the carpet. It hit Ryouta with a sad absence that the young model knew was necessary.

Daiki whined, pushing his head up to see the blonde glaring up at him from the floor.

Aomine’s expression changed into one of a smirk.

“That’s a nice site to see.” The basketballer teased, eyeing Kise’s form.

Ryouta reddened, only now realising the pair of them were completely naked.

“Aominecchi!”

That seemed to be the word of the day.

“Fine, go to your shoot or whatever, but as soon as it’s done. Come back to bed. I’ll be waiting.”

“I’ll be gone for eight hours!” Ryouta stated, incredulous.

“And I’ll be waiting. See ya!”

Kise blew a blonde hair from his eyes, pouting at the lazy form on the bed.

He really wanted to crawl under the covers with him right now…

But no, he just couldn’t.

Ryouta sighed, collecting his discarded clothes from the previous night and throwing them in a pile in the corner of his hotel suite.

As an afterthought, Kise retrieved a shirt from the pile as a revenge gesture.

Aomine’s shirt.

More importantly. Aomine’s _favourite_ shirt.

It was nothing special to the naked eye, really. Just a simple dark grey t-shirt with some kind of band logo on it.

But it meant the world to Kise.

It was Aomine’s after all.

The blonde pulled it over his head. Taking in the wonderful scent of Aomine Daiki. The basketballer didn’t really have a smell that was describable. He just smelt like, the night, warmth, all things good in the world.

Well, that’s what Kise thought anyway.

Ryouta turned around to look at himself in the mirror. The shirt was just slightly too big for him, the hem of it hanging a little too low.

Usually, Kise would change if it were normal circumstances.

But this time, the blonde just _had_ to compromise.

It was Aomine’s after all.

Tugging on a pair of black jeans, Ryouta strolled back into the bed room.

“How do I look, Aominecchi?” He teased, propping himself up against the door frame.

“You know I really don- Is that my shirt?”

Daiki’s eyes widened slightly.

“Sure is.”

“…”

“Do you want it back?” Kise tugged on it, suddenly insecure.

How odd of him.

“No… I was just thinking-”

“-What?”

Aomine's expression almost looked predatory.  
“Now I definitely can’t let you leave.”

\---

Arriving half an hour late and his hair a mess. Ryouta finally makes it to the location of the shoot. Usually he would have someone drive him, but he had been told not to make a scene.

Therefore, Kise had to walk there.

Or, more like, run there.

“Sorry,” Kise inhaled, hands on his knees. “Sorry, I’m late.”  
The blonde was fully aware that he was rather fit, however, with all that considered. A half an hour sprint in skinny jeans and high tops rendered him nearly beyond speaking.

Not to mention the rather… rigorous activity Kise had participated in just before hand.

Hey, at least he was here. That’s all that mattered.

\---

A whole day without Kise.

Daiki didn’t quite know what to do with himself.

For the past two weeks he spent most of his days by the blonde’s side. And Kise, in turn, followed him around too.

Even Aomine’s team mates had grown accustomed to the young blonde barging in in the middle of practice to ‘observe’ the ‘game.’

Observe, meaning check out.

Game, meaning Aomine.

Not that there was anything wrong with looking at what was rather rightfully his now. Kise couldn’t be happier about that.

The best part was that Aomine had no idea.

Daiki sighed, not fully capable of shoving the pillow from the top of his face for about another three hours.

He never really was a morning person.

Even if morning was 12:30 in the afternoon.

\---

At around 2’oclock Daiki finally rises from his position, stretching out lazily. Ever thankful for the fact that he didn’t have any prior commitments today. He could just laze around Kise’s fancy hotel room for the rest of the day without anyone bothering him.

It was marvellous.

The only thing that would make it better was…

Well, Kise being there.

But, that would have to wait.

Daiki was never patient, but it seemed he would have to be.

The past week with Ryouta had been one of the best times he’d had in months. It felt like he had his best friend from middle school back, and it was positively marvellous. The two of them didn’t even have to be doing anything and it would still be better than anything Aomine could come up with by himself.

Daiki was content, and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

The basketballer couldn’t believe how stubborn he was being all those weeks ago when he turned Kise down a chance to speak. He couldn’t comprehend how that he could deny himself happiness like that.

It was rather strange how Aomine’s mind worked like that. Over time, his opinions, his thoughts changed like the breeze if persuaded enough.

He had Kagami and Kuroko to thank for that.

And most of all, he had to thank Kise.

Despite the blonde being slightly the cause for all of the inner turmoil Aomine faced these past two years. Daiki couldn’t find himself to be mad, especially because Kise was being so brutally threatened.

Aomine clenched his fists. The mere mention of something as awful as that happening to Ryouta made the tanned man see red. Who could do such a thing to him?

Flashes of anger, regret, worry and paranoia hit him every so often. As he knew they would, yet Daiki tried to push them down. Kise had said he wasn’t receiving any letters as of late, so maybe the asshole who was doing such a thing finally got bored.

That idea alone was what kept Aomine sane.

Daiki imagined it was the same thing that kept Ryouta going as well.

The basketballer sighed, dressing himself as he tried to push those dark thoughts out of his mind. (He’d been pretty good at that.)

Aomine wandered his way into the kitchen, hunger finally overtaking his need to laze around in bed all day. Tanned hands opened the fridge to see next to nothing.

‘ _Figures…’_

They were staying at a hotel…

Well, Daiki technically wasn’t. But, it didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to be displeased with the lack of nutrients residing in both the refrigerator and the pantry.

_‘Maybe I should go out and get some food to bring back…’ Aomine wondered idly, figuring there would be a time like this again._

Kise was here for around three months, so it was obvious the blonde would need some food lying around at some point.

And fine, just maybe Aomine wanted to do something nice for Kise.

It only took him a moment to realise what he wanted to do. He didn’t even need to search his brain to remember what Kise’s favourite food was. The blonde gushed about the dish dozens of times, and always complained when they didn’t have it on the menus at restaurants.

Without thinking Daiki dials Kagami’s number for guidance.

The ringing in his ears rivals the one in the phone, why was he so weird about this stuff?  
After what felt like a year, his redheaded team mate finally picked up.

“Yo,”

“Hey,”

“Aomine?”

“Yeah… uh… how the fuck do you make onion gratin soup?”

“Excuse me?”

“How do you make onion gratin soup, I need to know… for, uh, research.” Daiki stuttered nervously, holding the cell phone to his ear.

He hoped Kagami wouldn’t notice.

“Onion gratin soup… that’s Kise’s-“

Aomine could feel the realisation hit Kagami like a frying pan to the head.

“Don’t say it.”

Taiga swallowed his smug remark, saving it for a better time he could see Daiki’s reaction.

“Well, you need-“  
“Wait, hold on, lemme get a pen.”

The redhead sighed, impatient. “How about I just send you the recipe.”

“Yes, good, do that.” And with that Daiki hung up. Wanting nothing more than to be done with this awkward conversation.

A little less than two minutes later he received the recipe the basketballer desired. A rather simple, numbered, article on how to make the soup.

Aomine groaned, reaching for his keys to get the ingredients.

_‘Best not fuck this up…’_

_\---_

Daiki was juggling all the grocery store bags in both of his arms when he arrived back inside the hotel complex once more. (Aomine was never one for pacing himself.) The basketballer held his keys in his mouth with a fierce determination that was rather commendable.

He had followed the ingredients list perfectly, and all that’s left was to cook it.

Aomine sighed, completely overwhelmed with all the strange appliances on the bench before him. He wondered idly if Kise would even like that he did this for him. Could Daiki even remember how to cook? Kagami had always made hi-

All of a sudden, he heard a knock at the door.

_‘Kise?’_

His mind instantly flickered to the blonde.

But no, that couldn’t be.

Ryouta wasn’t due to be back for another couple of hours.

“Housekeeping!” A voice called, knocking on the door once more.

“Oh.”

Daiki sighed in relief. Striding over to the door to get open it. The man smirked. He was really overdoing himself… Kise’s favourite food, hotel room all squeaky clean.

Aomine Daiki, the perfect boyfriend.

“Hi,” The basketballer greeted, none too formally. Usually he would be grouchier when talking to strangers, but today was just one of those days where he was strangely cheery.

Aomine took a quick look at the person at the door.

Tall, lanky, black hair, pale skin.

Overall, a scary looking guy.

Not the busty middle aged woman Daiki had been expecting.

Then again, he should have known… the voice…

“Greetings.”

_‘Great… so this guy talks weird too.’_

Not really knowing what else to do, Aomine opened the door further. Letting the stranger in to the room without another doubt.

That would be his undoing.

The thin man observed the complex, almost like he was checking if anyone else was here.

Aomine sent him a pointed look. “What exactly are you looking for, skeletor?”

So much for the cheery attitude.

The strangers face contorted into a disturbing smile. “Such disrespect, Aomine Daiki, I wouldn’t expect anything different…”

Dread hit the tanned man in the gut, “How do you know my name?” Aomine asked, heavily taken aback.

What did this guy want?  
“Oh I know a lot more than your name, you filthy creature. I know everything about you. And more importantly, I know everything about Kise Ryouta.”  
Daiki’s eyes widened. His chest rising in painful, fiery anger.

This was the man that was blackmailing Kise all these years. It had to be.

This was the man that ruined everything.

This…

“You.” Aomine snarled, his dark blue eyes narrowing in hatred. His fists clenched, nails digging into his hands painfully.

“Ah, so you finally figured it out.”

The man advanced toward Daiki, something in his hand. He pressed closer until there was about a metre of space between them.

That was when Aomine decided to attack.

Out of pure rage, he slapped the object out of the man’s hand. Sending it flying into the hallway. He grabbed his arms, trying so desperately to tackle him to the ground but to no avail. It was almost like he was glued to the ground.

Thinking of nothing else, the tanned man punched the stranger in the face. His fist landing on the other’s cheek.

The man stumbled, but didn’t fall. Clutching his face, he scowled.

Aomine drew back, the painful burning in his hand giving a physical example of how hard he’d hit.

How wasn’t he on the ground?

“Don’t make this difficult.” The dark haired man seethed, his words sounding that of a snakes. He dived onto the basketball player, a surprise attack that Aomine had not expected.

They landed with a solid thud that knocked the wind out of Aomine.

He hit Daiki in the face, hard. While the man was still in shock from falling. And then pressed something cold against the tanned man’s neck.

A knife.

Aomine went cold.

Despite his slim appearance, the man held his own in a fight. He rivalled Aomine’s strength, if not surpassed it.

That was when Daiki finally felt fear curl up inside of him.

“What are you going to do to me?” Aomine spat at him.

“Oh, my, the correct question would be. What aren’t I going to do to you?”

Aomine felt a sharp pain in his neck and then nothing at all.

 


	19. Phone Call.

Kise had never considered himself an impatient man.

He’d actually thought quite the opposite.

Yet as he sat on a chair, in the middle of some photoshoot for an ad he could no longer recall. The blonde couldn’t help but tap his fingers against the armrests.

The job had taken far too long, he was tired, he was grumpy;

And he _really_ wanted to go home and see Aominecchi.

It was ridiculous how strong the need was. It was like there was something drawing him back to that hotel room. Something powerful, and intoxicating…

Ryouta sighed, placing a hand on his delicate face.

“Kise-San, please don’t do that, you’ll ruin your makeup!” A stranger called in distress, her hands flying up to her face in disdain.

“Sorry…” The blonde grumbled, the half-assed apology letting everyone know how drained he truly was.

The young modelled retracted his arm once more, feeling a noise coming from his pocket.

Kise nearly jumped out of his seat.

His phone!  
Finally, some kind of distraction.

Something to relieve this awful boredom he had been facing. Just waiting around for some director to tell him what he can and cannot do.

How tedious…

Without delay he eased himself off the chair with a strange amount of haste. Quietly excusing himself for a matter of minutes.

Ryouta examined the caller I.D. number, his heart sinking in disappointment.

An unknown number.

It couldn’t be Daiki.

Kise swallowed his dismay, the young model trudged out of the door more reluctantly after all.

The cool air nipped at the blonde’s skin, the sky growing grey with clouds. Kise pressed the answer button on his phone, seeking the distraction at least.

“Hello?” The blonde greeted hesitantly.

“My… It’s been a while Ryouta.”

Kise’s blood turned to ice.

He knew that voice.

That voice…

It played in his head as he went to sleep at night. It haunted his nightmares, his daydreams.

Kise was so sure he’d never hear it again but…

“Y-you…” Ryouta stumbled from the shock.

“It’s quite a lovely hotel room you have here. Much nicer than the others ones you stayed at.”

The hotel room.

Kise’s golden eyes blew wide with panic.

_‘Aominecchi’s in there!’_

The voice paused, though it was obvious he hadn’t finished speaking yet.

“I wonder why it’s lovelier… Could It be because of your brilliant boy toy you have lazing about inside of it? My, I think that would be it.”  
Ryouta was stiff with fear, his brain working a mile a minute to just say something, anything.

“W-what do you mean?” The blonde stuttered, his hands shaking madly.

“Don’t play dumb, Ryouta.” The caller voice shook with anger, losing his composure for the slightest second.

He paused.

“I’m not- I- He-.” Kise tried to form a sentence, but his brain just didn’t seem to be cooperating. His mind was filled with panic and concern for Aomine.

“Ah, Ryouta, I’m sorry but I can’t talk now. Dearest Daiki seems to be stirring from his little nap… I might just have to put him down like the mangy little mutt he is.” The man on the other line seemed so have composed himself, as that time he talked. He was a lot calmer.

“No!” Kise yelled, his grip on the cell phone tightening. Like he was clinging to any semblance of reality.

This couldn’t be happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

This couldn’t be happening.

“I bid you adieu, my sweet Ryouta. Please await my next call, yes?”

“No, wait, please, don’t hurt him.” Kise’s voice came out as a terrified whimper. Unable to control his raging emotions inside. He had to keep him on the phone, not knowing anything would tear the blonde apart.

“Kise? What’s going on?” The young model heard his manager walk towards him, the man looking at him, confused. He’d obviously heard the noises.

Ryouta didn’t seem to hear him, though.

All the blonde heard was the terrifying buzz signifying that the call had ended.

It felt horribly eerie, though it rung in Ryouta’s mind like an old church bell.

It was yet another sound that would be forever frozen in his mind.

Like a nightmare he couldn’t shake.

Like a scar that would remind him of _everything_ that had happened in the past _._

_Kise couldn’t handle this…_

_Not again…_

_He had just gotten to a point where he wasn’t scared._

_Where he felt safe._

_Where he felt happy._

_Why did it have to be taken away from him again?_

_Why did Aomine have to be taken away from him again?_

Kise clutched his head, begging for the thoughts to stop, to no avail. They rushed at him like a roaring river that grew stronger with every second it tore through a valley. It broke his mind with every syllable.

It didn’t halt.

_‘Aominecchi is in trouble.’_

_‘And it’s all your fault.’_

“Stop… please stop…” Ryouta cried, wrenching his eyes shut, the pain in his head growing evermore present with each second.

The blonde’s nails scrapped deep into his temples, the pain stinging him, yet making him feel more aware.

He had to focus.

He had to-

_‘Aominecchi’s going to die.’_

Kise’s hazel eyes were thrown open, the thought sending a tendril of pure fear crawling down the back of his neck and enveloping him in a fiery embrace.

Ryouta screamed.

\---

It was all Daiki could see.

Night time was never this dark in a city like Aomine’s.

So why was everything pure darkness?

Why did his neck sting with a poisonous pain?

Why did his face burn?

Had he fallen asleep?

Or-

Or had he been forced to?

The last time he was conscious… what had happened?

Everything still remained blurry to the basketballer, the memories of who knows how long ago still in pieces in his aching mind.

All he knew was that the situation was anything but good.

Aomine tested out his movement, tensing his arms and legs for confirmation.

They were tied. Bound by what felt like thick rope.

Daiki cursed.

This may be worse than he expected.

Though his injuries were rather painful, Aomine was still confused as to why he couldn’t see. He had taken several blows to the face, sure. But nothing to damage his sight.

That was when he realised that whoever had done this had blindfolded him.

Who had done this?

Who-

The overwhelming darkness made him come to his senses eventually.

Kise’s blackmailer; he was the one in charge of all this.

He had gotten the better of Aomine in a fight and he must have injected him with something. Daiki growled, he should have fought harder. Punched more forcefully.

How was he so strong?

The guy had met Daiki’s height, maybe a few inches shorter. He was lanky, easily lighter than the basketballer, yet he held such an overwhelming amount of strength behind him.

Aomine would really need to stop underestimating people.

Daiki suppressed any fear bubbling up inside of him, panic would be stupid in a time like.

Usually, the basketballer was a kind of ‘in the moment’ kind of guy… How strange that his irrationality would be quelled during some kind of kidnapping.

_‘Better late than never.’ The tanned man though as he grimaced painfully._

Those ropes were getting awfully painful against his skin.

Aomine wondered if he was in a room somewhere, or If he was in some kind of vehicle. With one of his senses completely gone, it was hard to comprehend. He hadn’t felt any bumps lately, no shifts in direction.

So he must be…

He must be somewhere, in a room.

Daiki prayed he was alone.

He prayed he was the only one that got caught up in this.

The basketballer almost dreaded getting the blindfold lifted off him.

For the fear of seeing Kagami… Kuroko…

Right beside him, looking as terrified as the tanned man felt inside.

Who else would he involve in this?

Was it just Aomine?

Or was this only one faze of the master plan this whacko had?

Was this all just to draw in Kise?

“Shit…” Daiki cursed, gritting his teeth.

He knew Ryouta like the back of his hand.

This would be sure to get him tangled up in all of this.

Aomine just prayed he’d think enough to work the situation out instead of arriving here at this psycho’s request, guns blazing in search of Daiki.

When in reality, the basketballer was exactly sure that’s what he would do.

Because, from the amount of years that Aomine had known Kise. The amount of time he’d spent looking at the blonde, thinking about him, analysing him…

He’d do just as Aomine thought.

“That idiot…” Daiki mumbled to himself, straining against his restraints in frustration. He had to get out of here before that dumbass got involved.

Who was Aomine to judge, really?

Daiki wasn’t sure if he knew himself all that well, but he knew at the very bottom of his heart that he’d do the exact same for Ryouta.

That was what scared him.

 


	20. Too Long In The Dark.

Aomine spent too long in the dark.

It felt like days, but was most likely all but a matter of hours.

His mouth grew dryer with every second he let out a breath, and his tongue flared with irritation that he knew would only develop more.

All he could see was black, and it was maddening. It was frustrating.

Just waiting for something to happen… It was driving the tanned man insane. He was never one to keep still, not like this anyhow, so the stillness he had been forced to partake in felt almost criminal.

In fact, it was criminal.

He had been taken against his will after all.

“Jesus Christ, I’m so fucking bored in here, can you at least give me something to do while you’re doing your plotting or some shit?” Daiki scowled out bravely, his teeth baring in what he hoped looked like aggression.

“Watch your tongue, Daiki.”

Ah, finally, a voice.

The very same one that had caused all of this.

“Oh, so the psycho finally speaks.” The basketballer smirks, his arms tensing cockily.

There is no verbal answer, only the brilliant pain of being hit across the face with something cold and heavy.

Aomine grunts, letting the discomfort being known. The fire in his cheek swelling even further as he tries to reach to cup it within his hand, only to be restrained by the chaffing ropes that he was ensnared in.

“That really hurt…” The tanned man mumbled, not quite as confident. Daiki tried to sense the movement from around him, hoping that he could calculate just where this man actually was in this room.

It had to be a room…

Daiki’s voice now, it had barely echoed. The walls must be solid, concrete even. The slight buzzing of an overhead light now came to his senses, at last, he was starting to piece a few things together.

Whatever had been in that needle had done something to him, Aomine wasn’t sure what it was exactly. But thankfully it seemed that the effects of such a thing were finally wearing off.

At least he hadn’t drifted off into unconsciousness…

“Hey, are you actually going to do anything to me? Or are you just gonna keep standing there like a dumbass?” The tanned man continued, his own cocky attitude never truly fading away throughout this fearful ordeal.

Aomine hoped the perpetrator was actually standing, otherwise he’d be the one that looked like a dumbass.

What a strange thing to think about in the process of a kidnapping.

Then again, Daiki had never exactly been kidnapped before so he wasn’t actually certain that it was a weird thing to think.

Regardless, Aomine hoped something would happen soon. He hoped he’d be able to at least see _anything_ for the time being.

His plan of action, agitate the creep enough to maybe remove his blind fold.

Foolproof…

“Is this really the tone you wish to take with the person that holds your measly life in their hands?”

“Sure as fuck is.”

“Do as you will.” Another swipe of Daiki’s face hit him square in the jaw. The impact shifting the cloth over his eyes just the slightest bit. Letting a bit of blinding light through.

The basketballer was right, the room was concrete.

Whether copping another blow to the face was worth that tid bit of knowledge was another thing entirely.

At least it was a start.

“You know, Daiki, you wouldn’t be here at all if it wasn’t for Ryouta. You do realise that?”

Aomine squirmed at the mention of both his and Kise’s first names.

It felt way too intimate, and dreadfully wrong.

“It’s not Kise’s fault I’m in here, it’s yours.” The now agitated man spat out, his mocking tone gone.

“That’s where you are once more incorrect, Daiki. You see I warned him about getting too friendly with anyone. I warned him, and he completely disregarded your safety just so he could get some petty affection.”

Daiki could hear the man pacing the room before him.

“And now look where you are-“

“I actually can’t, because I’m fucking blind folded.”

Aomine’s biting tongue would most certainly be the death of him.

The basketballer endured a punch to his side. The wound winding him and leaving the tanned man gasping for breath as he recovered.

“You will not speak back to me.”

A razor tipped voice commanded him.

And this time, Daiki obeyed.

\---

“Kise!” The man shouted at him, the blonde’s manager had been trying to coax the man out of the shaking mess he had become.

It had to be something to do with those awful threats he’d been getting…

The young model’s eyes were blown wide open, but were reacting to nothing. Pure gold, but as dull as an unsharpened pencil.

Finally, as a last result, he slapped Ryouta lightly across the face.

He didn’t like to result to violence, in a serious time like this, but it seemed it was needed if Kise was ever going to be thrown from this daze of his.

The sound of the smack had fallen on both of their ears, the blow a lot harder than he’d wanted it to be.

It wasn’t in vain however, as Kise fell back. Somewhat reacting to the pain he felt in his reddening cheek.

He clutched at it with shaking hands, the young model somewhat more responsive now than he had been.

“Aominecchi…” Ryouta mumbled to himself, standing up stark straight almost robotically.

The blonde’s hand fumbled for the phone he’d most likely dropped on the pathway. His pale arms stretching wide to feel for the small electronic device he had misplaced in the fray of the large scale shock.

Finally, success.

Kise reached for his located phone, numbly grasping his fingers over it.

Without a second to spare, the young model raced into the street. Hell bent on running all the way back to the hotel to see for himself. He didn’t care about the danger that faced him right now.

All that mattered was…

“Aominecchi.” Ryouta mumbled to himself once more, as he strode across the street with a severe urgency.

His breathing grew raspy, yet he pushed on forward. The action reminding him of the gruelling basketball training the blonde used to partake in at Teiko.

The blonde begged his feet to move faster and faster.

It just wasn’t fast enough.

Flying into the foyer and up the elevator. Ryouta dreaded what he’d see there. Every moment waiting felt like agony.

The young model’s eyes search for his room, golden irises scanning every plate of numbers with a frantic speed.

Until finally…

The door was lift slightly ajar, just the tiniest bit open.

Kise shook with fear as he came to approach it.

Not because of who was in there.

But because of who he was sure wasn’t.

Stepping onto the plush carpets, Kise saw a crime scene in front of him.

Some of the furniture had been knocked over, or broken completely. Accurately depicted that a struggle had definitely taken place here.

Due to the lack of Daiki in the room, Kise could tell very well who had won. The blonde sank to his knees, the gripping realisation hitting him like a train.

Numbly pulling out the phone he had pocketed a few minutes ago. He searched for a certain number.

He pressed a contact button, and waited for an answer.

The blonde knew it was pointless, but Ryouta had to have some kind of faith that Daiki was still okay.

Maybe he was bluffing…

Maybe Aomine had gotten away…

But as the sounds of no response resounded in the young models ear like an eerie lullaby, he felt his heart sink in despair.

“No…” The young model’s broken voice bounced across the walls in the hotel, his shoulder slumping in pure defeat.

Kise was a fool.

He had thought… That after all this time he could find someone he could be close to once more.

But now…

In a moment of hesitation, he dialled Kuroko’s number. Knowing full well that it was a last ditch attempt but still not strong enough to crush down every last hope he had about Aomine’s wellbeing.

Tetsuya picked up on the third ring.

“Hello?” The blue haired man’s voice echoed in the receiver, calm and collected as per usual.

“Kurokocchi? Is Aominecchi there?”

Kise’s desperate words seemed to strike a chord within Kuroko, and his next gathering of words appeared a lot more concerned.

“No… He said he’d be at your hotel room for the day. We haven’t seen him at all.”

Ryouta attempted to choke back a sob, only for it to come out anyways.

“Kise-Kun, what’s wrong?”

“It’s… he- the- Aominecchi’s been t-taken.”

“Are you certain?”

Kise looked about the once homely room he had spent many days comfortably in. Furniture strewn about the floor, even the slightest hint of blood.

The blonde swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Yes.”

“I shall contact the police now, you need to get out of wherever you are now Kise-Kun.” Kuroko’s stern voice whipped the young model into action.

Ryouta knew it wasn’t safe there.

How could he have just blindly ran into the room without another regard?

The blonde hung up the phone numbly, intent on making his way to Kuroko and Kagami’s house for some kind of a refuge.

His mind was a mess, his thoughts a chaos-filled land of fire and panic.

Questions upon questions rushed about his head like a bubbling brook on a downhill stream.

The young model couldn’t comprehend the aching pain in his brain and in his heart.

What would become of such a situation?

Was Aomine even still alive?  
The blonde exited the room, once more. His chest feeling heavy.

Tetsuya must have contacted the police by now, there would be no need to stay. He didn’t want to have to endure anymore questioning than he had.

Talking felt almost impossible right now. There were too many things going on.

Kise stumbled out of the door, the evening cold bitterly nipping at the tip of his nose. Like it was some kind of spiteful act purely for the blonde’s displeasure.

Ryouta couldn’t feel much of anything, anyway.

It was like his body and mind had been shut down with worry for Aomine. The overwhelming guilt he felt had numbed his senses.

The crushing failure that hit him in every way possible.

He had protected everyone he loved for the longest of times, yet, he just had to be selfish and try to win back Aominecchi.

And now even that had been taken away from him.

It was all Kise’s fault.

\---

“Kise-Kun, could you please explain to me what happened?” Kuroko handed the blonde a cup of tea and sat on the sofa beside him.

Ryouta had shown up at their house shortly after the young model had contacted him.

He looked even worse than he sounded.

“Well, I- I got this phone call while I was at work…” Kise began, annoyed at how shaky his voice sounded at the moment. “And it was… him… he called me again. He said that he had Aominecchi and that he was going to- he was going to put him down ‘like the dog he was.’”

The blonde shivered, the words still echoing in his head.

Tetsuya’s mouth drew into a taut line as his eyebrows furrowed in worry.

He wondered would possibly become of his old friend, he wondered if he was okay…

“The best thing we can do is wait until the police come as well as keep you safe here.”

That was Kuroko Tetsuya for you, calm as ever in the face of imminent panic. He was as composed as ever, yet the blonde could still tell he was rather anxious about Daiki.

“No, I can’t stay here. I’ll get you guys involved too, I don’t want that. This is all my fault to begin with, I’m not dragging anyone else into this mess.” Ryouta looked at the pair beside him.

He had only realised that coming here was a mistake.

He couldn’t let Kagami and Kuroko get involved in this.

He didn’t want to lose anyone else…

Kagami, who had been oddly silent throughout this whole misadventure finally decided to speak up on both of their behalves.

Brash or not, Taiga didn’t really consider not saying anything.

“You already have, dumbass. But that’s fine, because we can stick up for each other. That’s what friends do for each other.”

Kuroko sighed, but nodded in agreement. “This isn’t your fault, Kise-Kun, this is all on that…That… That sick bastard.”

“Kuroko…” The redhead’s eyes widened in astonishment. The man beside him had his fists clenched uncomfortably as he looked far ahead into the invisible distance.

Ryouta looked at the pair of them, distraught. Regardless of what they said, Kise truly thought this was all his fault entirely.

“I should have never gotten through to you guys, I’m sorry. I should have just left you all alone. All I bring is destruction, it seems.” A wry smile appeared on the blonde’s lips as he rose from his seat. He had no intentions of staying here.

“I’m afraid we can’t let you leave like this Kise-Kun, it just isn’t within mine nor Kagami-Kun’s morals to not help out a friend.”

Ryouta observed the two of them and their determined expressions and frowned.

How could they be so nice to him?

How could they after everything that had happened?

“You guys…” Kise began, not really sure of how to form the correct sentence.

“Like Kagami-Kun rather brashly said before, we’re in this together whether you like it or not.”

“That idiot’s gonna be fine, don’t sweat it.” Kagami grinned nervously, not quite sure if he believed his own words.

The blonde stared at them warily.

“I really, really hope so.”

 


	21. Wondrous Plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Banging on drums* WELCOME TO HELL WELCOME TO HELL WELCOME TO HELL WELCOME TO HEL-

Daiki could see things again.

Sometime ago he had passed out and once he rose again, the blind fold around his eyes had been revoked.

There wasn’t all that much to see.

He was alone in a concrete room, no chair, no anything.

Aomine tensed his arms, expecting the itching feel of rope to burn him but felt nothing more.

He had been freed from his restraints.

Strange…  
Very strange…

The basketballer huffed, his head feeling dizzy. Even if he tried to get up now he certainly wouldn’t get too far with this headache.  
His whole body ached from where he had been hit, his muscles were strained. Aomine for once in his life, felt completely weak and powerless.  
It was not the best feeling to experience at this time.  
The tanned man rested his head on the wall behind him and felt his eyelids grow heavy again…

Something was definitely wrong with him.

From the time he had passed out, that psycho bastard had done something to him. Made him weak, his head dizzy. He could have done anything.  
Aomine shivered, the thought alone creeping him out entirely.

“Ah, so you’ve awoken once more…”

A door.

Daiki swore he hadn’t seen it there before.

Maybe his mind was playing tricks with him...

The familiar, domestic creak of a door didn’t seem to belong in a room such as this. In a situation such as this. It seemed overly mundane, and not at all serious enough for the conundrum that the tanned man was currently facing.

The basketballer trained his eyes upwards, his head feeling as if it was weighed down by stones.

He had definitely done something to him.

“What… what did you do to me?” Aomine snarled at the lanky man in front of him. His bony features highlighting the sinister look in his dark eyes.

“A magician never reveals his secrets…” He replied smoothly, obviously anticipating the accusing question to be thrown his way.  
Aomine clicked his tongue, but stayed silence once more.

He was so tired…

Too tired to fight back…

“Don’t go to sleep, Daiki, this is where all the fun begins.”

His spider like voice would be a sound that would be sure to haunt Aomine’s nightmares for months to come.  
And yet…

All that the tanned man felt was sluggish.

Like a doll.

What had he been thinking about again?

Who knew anymore…

Why was he even in here to begin with?

The last thing Daiki sees before the darkness takes him as the figure approaching him, there was something in those spindly hands of his.  
Though the object did not faze him.

The expression he wore did.

A smile.

Crazed and oddly eerie.

It brought a lazy shock of terror through Aomine’s subdued mind.

\---  
Kise knew it was wrong to stay here.

He knew it and yet…

The blonde clicked his tongue.

He was too much of a coward to leave.

He didn’t want to abandon this safe haven, even if it would cause hurt around him.

‘How selfish…’

Ryouta had been so reliant on other people lately that he had grown far too accustomed to it, such a thing had grown to be problematic.

The awful threats, the messages, the blackmail. It all caught up to him.

Even after so many years of running, even after what felt like safety.

It was taken out from under the young model.

Aomine was gone because he was too weak.

He was gone because he couldn’t just rely on himself.

He was gone because Kise had given into his temptations.

Toxic self-hatred oozed into his system, the feeling burning his insides like acid. It felt like his chest would be torn apart from the inside.  
And yet…

Ryouta thought he deserved it.

He’d caused so much pain, so why not try to undo some of it unto himself? He deserved this horrible feeling inside of his stomach.  
It was to make up for all of the times Aominecchi had felt the same way.

Because of him.

It was to make up for all of the smiles and laughter he had so selfishly taken for granted these past few weeks.

The blonde stared deeply into the fading sun. The fresh night air chilling him ever so slightly. His skin grew uneven with goose bumps, yet he couldn’t feel the cold in the slightest.

Looking about the darkening cityscape, Kise wondered where Aomine was. He wondered if it would be somewhere he’d know.

He wondered if the police would ever find him.

Kise so desperately wanted to be out there looking for him.

And yet… He knew he could do nothing at all. He was useless, unimportant. He had nothing good to contribute.  
It was torture.

\---

The next time Daiki awoke, he was in chains once more. The restraints binding his arms above his head, leaving his feet just scraping the floor. He had his height to thank for that.

Aomine groaned at the pain he felt all over his body, his vision still blurred and his face completely bruised.  
He was hungry, he was thirsty.

The tanned man knew that it would only grow worse in time.

Searching desperately for a distraction from the discomfort he faced, Aomine thought a million things at once. Mundane at first, but then they grew far more serious.  
How was Kise fairing throughout this?

It was an odd thing to think, considering the situation he himself was in.

Yet, Daiki knew how bad the blonde could be feeling right now. He knew him better than he knew himself.

The basketballer so desperately wanted to scream at Ryouta that it wasn’t his fault now, that he wasn’t the reason that Daiki had been taken.

But instead he was here. Alone in a concrete cell in God knows where, being kept trapped like a rat by a psychotic man crazed by undeterminable causes.  
How frustrating…

Being overpowered by such a slimy, bony man. It was certainly a blow to his ego, and also his face. The fact that Aomine had been beaten so easily only added more fuel to the fire.

This guy was strong.  
He was obsessive.  
And he was determined.

Not a good concoction for the predicament Daiki was currently in.

Especially when he didn’t even know the man’s motives.

Hell, he didn’t even know his name.

“You slip out of consciousness fairly easily, Daiki.”  
A voice. Another creak of the door.

Aomine’s vision was far too blurry to see who, but he knew.  
Who else could it be?

“Stop calling me that you fucking creep.” The tanned man hissed, trying his very best to glare at the moving spot in his vision.  
“Why not? It is your name.”

The basketballer was struck by a strange idea.

“But I don’t know your name, so how’s that fair?”

Gather Intel, find out this guy’s reasons to want to hurt Kise.  
He could find his weak spot.

Daiki wasn’t sure if it would be of any use in the end.  
But maybe… Just maybe, if he got out of this alive.  
No.  
When he got out of this alive.

It would bring Ryouta some kind of relief… some kind of closure in the matter.

“Odd… I thought you may remember me. I was pretty famous back then… But then again, Ryouta hadn’t even recognised my face.”  
Daiki looked at the man now, his vision clearing ever so slightly.

“He’s seen you?”

“Yes, and he thought nothing of it, pathetic.”

“Was he supposed to remember you?”

“I guess you really don’t remember the names of the teams you obliterate either, now do you?”

The basketballer looked at him, his eyes widening in surprise.

“You mean all of this started because of some stupid basketball game?”

Shrouded in anger, the spindly shell of a man immediately lost his composure. His dark eyes grew enraged at the comment as he started forward towards the heavily restrained other right before his feet.

He grabbed the roots of Aomine’s dark hair, pulling his head up to face him.

“It may have been stupid to him, but it ruined everything for me. It threw my whole life out of balance.”  
Daiki winced at the grip he had on him. The pain in his scalp growing ever so agonising as the time wore on.  
“I lost a chance to have a career in basketball, I lost everything. It was all his fault. He deserved to pay.”

Aomine was almost scared of the look the man had just given him.

Almost.

Feeling the need to defend the blonde, Daiki met the man’s crazed gaze, his navy blue eyes leaking with defiance.  
“It’s not his fault for being better than you.” The basketballer spat in the other’s face, his voice conjured up of the most poisonous venom.

The thin ice that Aomine was stomping on grew cracked and uneasy. The cool composure that his kidnapper had kept with him nearly entirely seemed to be breaking with every sentence that came out of Daiki’s mouth.

“If you wish to think that way, that’s fine for now.”

A cold, emotionless voice.

So much worse than shouting.

Something so different to the expression the estranged stranger had been pulling just before.  
It was frightening.

“I’ll make you see that this was all Ryouta’s fault. I’ll make you hate him from the very bottom of your heart. Just you wait and see, Aomine Daiki. If he ever gets you back, he’s not going to want you for too long.”

A pointed smile, portraying the devilish quality that Kimoi Kumo portrayed.

“If he doesn’t throw you out himself, you might just kill him anyway.”

Leaning evermore closer to the basketballer his garish grin only seemed more menacing.

“I have wondrous plans for you, Aomine Daiki.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp.


	22. Crippling Helplessness.

The police had shown up at their door in the early hours of the morning, obviously having traced the call from here. The questioning had been rigorous, tiring and overall almost too painful for Kise to bear.

The blonde had been forced to tell the authorities everything; the threats, the letters, the phone calls. Ryouta knew it was necessary to help find Aominecchi, yet he couldn’t help but feel like he had failed.

Kise had been keeping such a secret for so long, trying to keep his loved ones safe.

And now, this had happened.

The blonde had no reason to hold back.

So why did he feel so uneasy?

Why did he feel like he had made the wrong decision?  
The group of cops had authorised that the small apartment home wouldn’t be safe for any of them to stay at currently. The location had most likely been made known by the attacker, and was dangerous.

“We’re dealing with a skilled blackmailer, Kise-San, there were no traces that lead to him whatsoever from the phone call you had received. The letters were all most likely sealed with glue and packaged with gloves. The best thing we can do is get you and anyone else involved to a safer place and wait for the kidnapper to make his next move.”

The fact that this was all Kise’s fault made the blonde’s insides curl up painfully within his chest.

“So where are we supposed to stay, then?” Taiga asked daringly, his eyebrows furrowing.

“A friend’s house, possibly, a relative’s?” Suggested an officer, trying his very best to be helpful.

“Momoi?” Kagami pondered out loud, casting his gaze toward Kuroko.

Tetsuya shook his head, “Momoi-San and Riko-San are both on a training camp retreat. I don’t have the key.”

The group of policeman jumped, seemingly frightened about the sudden appearance of the short man that had been there all along.  
Upon hearing the negative answer the redhead sighed, brushing his hand roughly against his hair.

“Himuro-Kun?” Kuroko asked helpfully, placing a hand on his chin thoughtfully.  
“He’s in America with Murasakibara.”

The pair’s faces drooped, crestfallen.

Was there anyone nearby?

The blonde sensed their desperation and looked at them with guilt. His mind wondering…

There was one more person he knew lived around here.

Out of pure curiosity one night, unable to sleep after a nightmare he just suffered from. He had looked up his old team mate. Having known about nearly everyone else on the team, the oddball shooter had been a mystery to him.

Apparently he’d become a doctor in one of the private hospitals in Kyoto.

Good for him.

“What about Midorimacchi?” Ryouta said quietly, looking at the pair of them with half lidded eyes.

Kagami tensed, “He lives around here?”

The blonde hummed, whipping out his phone.

Kuroko frowned, “do you have his number?”

“Yeah, I still have it from middle school…”

This plan may not be the greatest. Midorima and Kise hadn’t been the closest of friends… Yet, maybe he would show some empathy due to their situation.

Or…

He always did prefer Kuroko to him. Maybe the blue haired shadow could convince him better than Kise’s people skills ever could.

Maybe; Ryouta was never all that sure with him.

“You do it, Kurokocchi.” The young blonde said, holding out his phone to the blue haired man to his side.

Not looking for an explanation, Tetsuya received the device and held the speaker to his mouth.

The rather monotone sound of the cell phone was the only noise in the entire apartment as the three of them waited.  
“Midorima-Kun?” Kuroko acknowledged, holding the phone close to his ear.

Kise and Kagami sighed in relief; at least he’d answered.

And now to the hardest part.

Actually convincing him to let them stay.

“You see- Wait, Takao-Kun?” Tetsuya’s eyes widened in mild surprised as he picked up on the cheery voice within the speaker.

“Kuroko- Holy shit, I never expected to hear your voice again!”

“This is Midorima-Kun’s phone, correct?”

“Yeah, but he left it here when he went to work, so I picked it up!”

“He’s not… home.” Kuroko states loudly enough so that his other companions could hear.  
Their shoulders sunk in defeat.  
“

No, but I am! If it’s something I can help you with, I could tell Shin-Chan later.”

Seeing this as a strange, but slightly more hopeful opportunity, Kuroko pressed on with the issue. Hoping that perhaps Takao was a bit more empathetic then what he suspected Midorima was.

“Kise-Kun, Kagami-Kun and I are in a bit of trouble.”

Tetsuya heard Taiga shout, “More like a lot of trouble!” From behind him, but continued with speaking, regardless.

Seemingly hearing the mild distress in the usually cool, collected boy, Takao’s voice raised slightly in suspicion.  
“What did you guys do?”  
“Nothing illegal, I assure you, we just need some place to stay until it’s over.”

There was a slight pause in the conversation, obviously due to the decision that would had to be made in a matter of seconds.  
“Sure! You can all stay with us, this apartment is so huge… It gets kinda lonely when Shin-Chan’s always out working. It will be like a sleepover!”

Takao Kazunari; king of positivity.

“Great.” Kuroko smiled, relieved at the affirmative answer. He nodded to the redhead and the blonde beside him as they continued staring at him. “Can you text us the address?”  
“Cool! See ya here!”

And with that the call ended.

Seemingly better than what could have possibly happened.

\---

Kise’s mind was still a wildfire within his head, it was filled with worry and anxiety that never seemed to go away.

Even as Kagami and Kuroko continued speaking on the car trip to Midorima’s apartment he couldn’t find it within himself to join them.  
It was odd how out of character he felt, even to himself. The whole situation had taken that out of him, and as the blonde glanced at his two friends by his side.

That had noticed too.

Tetsuya sent him a worrying glance, his eyes telling the young model that they would have to talk more in depth about the situation later in the night.  
Kise sighed, knowing that it wouldn’t be a fun little chat.

\---

“Woah, this is where Midorima lives?” Questioned Kagami, shutting the door to the taxi the three of them had travelled in. The redhead looked up, impressed, at the large, modernised apartment complex assaulting the front of his vision.

“It appears so,” Kuroko answered, looking warily up to the skyline. “Takao-Kun said it’s on floor ten, I hope there’s an elevator.”  
It was odd for Tetsuya to fill the silent space with words.

Maybe it was his kind of coping mechanism with the frightening situation that had affronted all three of them.

Or maybe it was to try to calm down everyone else.

Kise suspected it was a slight hint of both.

\---

As promised, Takao opened the front door for them.

The old Shuutoku point guard looked relatively the same for the couple of years that had passed. His dark hair was slightly longer and he had a more adult air around him, yet apart from that he was almost exactly identical.

“So are you guys gonna fill me in on why you requested Shin-Chan of all people to be your safe house of some sorts?” The man grinned at his guests, glancing at them up and down.

“Are you gonna fill us in on why you’re living with Midorima?” Kagami retorted, rather curious as to why the loud, cheery former team mate of the bespectacled doctor decided to stick around after high school.

Though he did have some ideas…

Kuroko elbowed him in the side for being intrusive.

Taking no offense to the question at all, Kazunari grinned slightly, and put a finger to his lips.

“Now, now, I’ll tell if you do.”

Tetsuya looked to Shuutoku's former hawk eye, looking at him with curiosity, and then to the unusually quiet blonde trailing behind him. “Kise-Kun is it alright if we tell Takao-Kun?”

Kise looked up, surprised to be directly spoken to.

It took a moment to register the words that had come from the blue haired teacher’s mouth but as soon as they did, Kise nodded.

There was no point keeping it a secret now.

\---

Aomine winced, the pain making his entire body pound.

He had to learn how to keep his damn mouth shut…

Spitting blood on the floor he gazed up wearily at the attacker. Daiki had never felt so defenceless in his life. The feeling was not a welcome one, it send tendrils of fear curling up in his chest every minute he was here.

Trying his very best to not focus on the aches all around himself, he kept asking the man a series of questions.

So much for keeping his mouth shut.

“Why would you kidnap me anyway?” The basketballer growled straining against the bonds that held him up. His arms had gone numb a long time ago.

His captor before him hadn’t answered any of the queries, just kept silent as paced around the room.

He was strange in that way.

The spindly man walked as if he was constantly on guard, programmed by some kind of robot. Then he’d suddenly lash out at the basketballer like a feral dog.

His once silent lips spoke with smooth confidence that Aomine could easily break with the right set of words.  
“All of this,” he gestured to the room, to Daiki. “All of this is Ryouta’s fault. I gave him a choice, and he didn’t listen.”

Like a broken record.

Aomine groaned, but bit his tongue on any other retorts that would be certain to earn him more beatings.

The tanned man would really rather not be reminded of the feeling of being able to nothing while you had the living shit beaten out of you.

The spider of a man grinned at his silence, victorious.

“It seems like your finally starting to act like a good dog.”

“Fuck you.”

Oh no.

Wrong choice of words.

Daiki closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable.

\---

This wasn’t working fast enough.

Kimoi growled as he slammed the door to the cellar.

Aomine Daiki was a stubborn one.

Far too stubborn to be handled completely alone. Far too stubborn to be crushed by mere beatings alone.

He needed a hook, something to break him for the time being.

The spider knew that he would be hard to crack. But in the long run, the revenge he was slowly gaining would be so much sweeter.

This intricate web he weaved would be difficult, but so much better than anything petty he’d seen before.

Kimoi smiled, an idea striking him,

Reaching for a mobile phone, one of many he had.

He dialled a number that he knew off by heart.

He’d only called it a handful of times.

But after so many years of gathering vital information.

A bunch of numbers was child’s play.

\---

Takao frowned at the trio on the couch, his usually cheery nature dulling ever so slightly as he took in the situation.

“This is some pretty serious stuff…” He mumbled, looking to the floor.

“If you don’t wish us to stay after hearing what could happen, I don’t blame you.” Kuroko mentioned, gazing at the old point guard warily.

“Nah, this building is secure as fuck, we’ll be totally fine in here.”

Tetsuya smiled at his willingness.

“Besides, we have plenty of spare rooms!”

\---

Kise hadn’t spoken all that much since they’d come here. It was beginning to worry Kagami and Kuroko.

Hell, even Takao who barely knew the blonde was sure that the young model was a lot more talkative usually.

Ryouta tried to pay no notice to their worrying glances but it grew difficult after a while.

“I’m tired, you guys, and I’m going to go to bed.” The blonde numbly excused himself. Heaving his body up from the lounge and numbly making his way to what he was sure was the bedroom.

Luckily, it was.

Kise wasn’t sure if the group outside had returned his farewell, but he was too exhausted to really care anymore.

The worst part was knowing that sleep would be nowhere near him.

He’d just have to lay there. Awake.

Feeling no warm presence beside him.

No Aominecchi to hog the covers.

A cold side of the bed where the basketballer used to be and a crippling helplessness assaulting him in every direction.


	23. Rushed Plans Are Always The Best Kind Of Plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *throws confetti* I'm sorry.

It was about four in the morning and Kise was still wide awake.

Too tired to fall asleep, too worried to ever dream of doing so.

In the middle of the night, it usually felt peaceful somehow to him. Even after everything that had happened to him throughout this period of time, he still enjoyed how the night sky stars twinkled with determination in a dark abyss in the atmosphere.

Maybe it was because he was reminded of himself and Daiki when he looked up at them.

The amount of times they used to just gaze at the skyline by themselves, unable to move from the rigorous training the coach had put them through.

Ryouta sighed, gripping unto his pillow woefully.

It was then and there, that his phone began to ring.

It could only mean one thing.

The blonde shot bolt right up in his bed, fear curling in on his insides as he thought of how the call could possibly go.

This wouldn’t end well.

Regardless of the terror he truly felt, Kise reached for the device on his night stand, hoping the noise hadn’t woken anyone up.

“H-hello?”

\---

Aomine felt delirious from all the beatings he’d taken. He hadn’t the foggiest what day it was, or even if one day had even passed.

The cluelessness he felt was making everything worse entirely.

Hunger and thirst were beginning to itch at his senses even further, the thought of any sustenance alone enough to make his chest contract painfully.

 _He_ hadn’t come back since then, leaving Daiki alone, chained to the wall with his arms suspended high above his head.

The numbness only slightly quelled the burning in his arms, but the tanned man could feel that wearing off with a vengeance.

Breathing in a shaky breath, he found that it only made his throat dryer.

Daiki swore.

Or at least, he tried to.

It seemed that even speaking was too much now.

He heard the familiar clanging of a door and chanced a glance up at his captor.

The other man seemed to be wearing a smile and some kind of device in his grasp.

Aomine’s blurred mind soon realised that the electronic rectangle he had in his hand was indeed, a phone.

\---

Kise’s hand gripped the phone tightly, hanging on to the device like it was his lifeline.

Waiting for a response.

Waiting…

“Ah, Ryouta, I wasn’t sure if you’d pick up. It’s far too late, you should be sleeping.”

\---

Daiki’s gut twisted with dread at the words that the other man spoke.

Maybe this was just a ploy to mess up Aomine even more than he already was?

He almost hoped so.

The basketballer searched for any signs that the call was fake, that Kise wasn’t really on the other line.

His pleadings didn’t reach fate however, as soon as he heard the blonde’s voice he knew it was for real.

“W-what are you doing to him?” Aomine heard the young model speak from beyond the receiver.

His only thankful thought was that at least he hadn’t been kidnapped too.

“Oh, we’re having fun, aren’t we Daiki?”

Skeletal hands wove through his hair like spider legs, grunting Aomine tried to shake them off.

He heard Kise gasp from the other side of the phone. “Aominecchi?”

“Kise…” Daiki choked out, his voice sounding hoarse and gravelly. The almost strangled noise bounced off the inner concrete walls of the room, making Aomine hear his own pathetic sounds over and over again.

A fist to the side of his face, nothing new.

Yet it still burned.

“What did I say about speaking out of turn, Daiki.”

Aomine winced in pain, hoping the blonde couldn’t hear so he wouldn’t worry anymore.

“Please, please don’t hurt him. I’ll do anything.” Ryouta’s desperate voice gripped the tanned man with a fiery rage.

He should never have to sound like that.

The man ahead of him, his skin as pale as ice. Glanced at his prisoner with a terrifyingly huge smile. His grin brought goose bumps to Daiki’s numb arms.

“’Do anything’, you say… Does your brave words hold up even if I were to suggest for you to take Daiki’s place?”

Devilish words from an even more devilish man.

Aomine felt his heart stop.

“No! Kise, don’t you fucking dar-“

“I’ll do it.”

\---

What was Kise thinking?

Bargaining with a psychopath?

“Ah, so you weren’t just bluffing like the perfect little actor you are. How marvellous.”

Kise felt his skin crawl over the familiarity of the way the spider spoke, his voice feeling like daggers to his ears.

“Aominecchi doesn’t have anything to do with this, let him go and you can have me.”

\---

Kumo Kimoi was not foolish. He wouldn’t fall for any petty trap set up by common people like Ryouta.

Intelligence trumped beauty in this situation, always.

He truly believed that.

He was always planning, always scheming.

This was no exception.

“Perfect,” he smiled. “Just as I’d expect.”

Taking in a satisfying breath before he spoke again. Kimoi looked to his prisoner.

“I want you to meet me at this address at 3 am in four days, precisely. If you are late or don’t comply. I won’t hesitate to take back my kind little offer.”

Four days.

That would be just the right amount of time to complete what needed to be done.  
“Kise, don’t!” Aomine yelled in the background, struggling against his chains. The friction of skin against coarse metal leaving Daiki with bleeding raw wounds that only seemed to worsen.

Kimoi belted him across the face to silence him, knowing it was a strong enough blow to leave him winded enough to not speak.

“O-okay,” the young model’s voice shook with fear as he gritted his teeth. Cringing at the sound of Aomine’s struggling, but knowing not to say anything unless he wanted to make it worse. “I will see you then.”

“Oh, and Ryouta. If you tell anyone about this. I won’t hesitate to kill both you and your precious ‘Aominecchi.’”

\---

Had this been his plan all along?

“Fuck!” Kise growled, throwing his phone across the room in pure frustration.

The voice on the other line made his skin crawl with disgust and fear; this was the man who had been mentally torturing him for all these years.

And now he had Aomine.

Wicked self-hatred crept up on Kise like an ever present snake and bit him.

He had to make this right.

Turning himself into that man wouldn’t help the two of them in the long haul.

And yet, Ryouta just felt the overwhelming urge to do _something._

It was _his_ problem.

So he just be the one to be dealt the worst hand.

Aomine didn’t deserve the treatment he was getting. The blonde thought it only natural to take his place.

But what if he didn’t have to?

An idea struck the young model with the force of a train. Bright golden eyes widening in a possible revelation.

Maybe….

Ryouta could tell just by hearing him speak now that he had grown to be even more insane than he used to be two years ago.

He’d grown more corrupted, more scheming.

More ruthless.

He’d obviously grown impatient with just mind games and he resulted to do something drastic.

Something _stupid._

Ryouta was a model, he was an actor. He had many masks not only for the camera, but for the people around him too.

He played dumb, but he wasn’t stupid.

No one had seen through such masks, they hadn’t predicted that behind his casual exterior could hide something else.

Everyone except Aomine, anyway.

Kise had a plan.

\---

Aomine felt his whole body slump against the chains that held him up once more. His head hanging in defeat.

The idiot just had to go and make that deal.

Daiki could have gotten out of here on his own.

He would have found some way…

And now…

And now he was at risk of losing Kise again.

For the last time.

\---

Walking down the hallway to breakfast the next day. Kise couldn’t keep his nerves in order.

Did he confide in someone?

Or did he just go it alone?

Would it be easier with an accomplice?

No, Kise shook the thought from his mind.

This was what he, and he alone, needed to do.

Tetsuya eyed him suspiciously as he walked across the room to the table, obviously noting the rather prominent circles under his eyes.

“Good morning, Kise-Kun.” Kuroko spoke through his coffee cup.

The blonde looked up in mild surprise to see Kuroko sitting to the left of his body, but made no noise to make Tetsuya aware of it. “Good morning, Kurokocchi.” Ryouta mumbled out monotonously, rubbing the back of his head.

Kuroko had been the only one at the table, so almost by instinct. He looked around for the other pair that had yet to join them.

“They’re still asleep.” The shadow answered, noting the blonde’s confusion.

“Oh,” Ryouta muttered, taking a seat opposite of Kuroko.

“Did you sleep at all last night?”

“No much at all,” the blonde sighed, rubbing at his eyes.

Was telling Kuroko a good idea?  
Maybe he could provide more insight on what Kise should do?

“I heard something last night… It sounded like someone had thrown something across the room quite harshly. Do you know anything about that?”

Kise froze.

His phone.

He chanced another quick glance at Kuroko, noting that there seemed to be some kind of strange interrogative air around him.

Tetsuya was suspicious.

That was never good.

It was almost like he could smell lies from a mile away.

“No, I don’t know anything about it.” Ryouta lied, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Maybe Takaocchi fell off of his bed.”

“Takaocchi?” A voice questioned from beyond the dining table. It was too high for it to be Kagami. “What kind of nickname is that?”

“Ah, Takao-Kun, good morning.”

“Shit! Kuroko, you scared me! I thought Kise over here was talking to himself.”

Kise caught the mild smile that came across Tetsuya’s lips after hearing that. “Kise-Kun adds ‘cchi’ to the names of people he respects. I suppose you made the cut.”

Takao looked pleased with that.

“Oh well, in that case. I can deal with that. You guys want breakfast?” Kazunari asked, rubbing his head of bed hair and yawning. His black hair stood up on tiny spikes and looked rather ridiculous.

However, nothing could quite rival the atrocity that was Kuroko’s bedhead.

Kise was positive that wasn’t even humanly possible.

“Breakfast?”

Another voice.

Kagami.

Almost as if he’d teleported here just because he’d heard the word, ‘food.’

“Good morning, Kagami-Kun.” Kuroko spoke once more, eyeing the new found redhead walking across the room.

“Mornin’ Kuroko.” The redhead greeted, rubbing the back of his head as he stretched his arms and pulled up a chair beside his boyfriend.

“Takao, did you fucking karate kick the wall at like three in the morning or something? Kuroko and I heard it and it scared the holy hell outta me.”

Takao raised an eyebrow, “No I was sound asleep the whole night.”

The three of them looked at Kise.

Uh oh.

“Ah, maybe it was Nigou,” the blonde reasoned, smiling casually.

Bad move.

Kuroko narrowed his eyes.

“We left Nigou in the pet carrier with us last night. He was sound asleep before we even got here.”

_Shit._

This could be bad.

 


	24. It Worked.

Kise’s heart pounded with uncertainty.

_‘It’s fine, you’re a professional, and you can do this.’ The blonde chanted in his mind, trying to regulate his breathing to a normal pace._

“Are you alright Kise? You look kinda pale.” Taiga asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He looked at the young model with mild concern that didn’t seem mocking at all.

Ryouta paused his thought process for a moment.

Was he alright?

The blonde scoffed.

What a stupid question.

Kise clenched his teeth in sudden anger. It came over him like a midday storm, adamant on destructing everything in its path.

“No, I’m not alright.” The blonde began.  “Aominecchi is God knows where in the hands of that, that psychopath!” Ryouta snapped, his fists clenching. “And we’re sitting here doing nothing!”

Kagami looked taken aback at the sharp answer, his mouth agape. Kuroko seemed rather beside himself with the answer as well.

Kise felt bad for saying such a thing already…

An opening of a door alerted all four of them, snapping their gazes away from the sudden conflict, they all looked to the mysterious person at the door.

They were all here… So why-

“Kazunari, I’m home.”

Kazunari?  
Who was close enough to call Takao, Kazunari?

Tetsuya felt his brain trace back to the conversation he had had with Kagami and Takao last night.

_“Me and Shin-Chan have been dating since our second year of high school, I can’t believe you guys didn’t notice!”_

_Oh._

Kuroko supposed it was only natural that the big, scary Midorima would somehow manage to say Takao’s first name at some point. Considering how long they had apparently been dating it would only make sense to do so.

So the person at the door _must_ be.

The familiarly odd green hair of Midorima stepped within frame. His tall body barely fitting through without bumping his head.

Ah, Midorima Shintarou.

Kuroko was correct. He nearly smiled triumphantly. His mind switching topics to the new arrival.

He could figure out Kise’s sudden outburst later.

“The hospital gave me extra shifts so I had to work through the nigh- What is going on here?” The doctor questioned in distress. His eyes going wide.

 “Shin-Chan! You’re back!” Takao grinned, completely disregarding the question his old team mate had asked him.

Kuroko looked to the old Shuutoku shooter, giving him a polite smile. “It has been quite a while, Midorima-Kun.”

Kise and Kagami didn’t say anything.

The redhead looked too stunned about the other disruption to really greet anyone.

Why had Ryouta snapped at Taiga like that?

More guilt welled up inside of the blonde as he chanced a glance at the redhead.

He didn’t look hurt, he just looked really surprised.

It still didn’t change the fact that Kise had just been rude for no reason.

The blonde knew he was stressed, but then again so was everyone else.

Maybe all the questioning got to him and he just had to let some frustrations through.

Because even if he did have a plan in order. There was still so many things that could go wrong with it.

There were still so many possibilities that he hadn’t even considered yet.

He had to figure something out fast, before he did anything like that again. Kuroko was already suspicious of him, and it would only be a matter of time before the others got tired of his lies.

“What are these people doing here?” Shintarou began again, his mouth curling up slightly in mild distaste.

“Aw, Shin-Chan, don’t be so mean.”

“Takao.” Midorima said sternly, switching to the man’s last name when he’d realised there was company.

“What? They needed a safe place to stay so I let them stay here!”

“Safe… place?”

“They’re in quite the predicament.”

“And you just let them in without even asking what this ‘predicament’ was?”  
“Well, yes.”

“Takao!”

\---

“Now, Daiki I never thought it to be possible for you to actually be silent for once. Good job, I’m very proud of you.”

Craning his aching neck up, Aomine looked at the man above him. Eyes fall of hatred.

“Finally, I can tell you the full truth about your little boyfriend.”

Silence.

“You know, I called him before I took you. I gave him two options. I take him, or I take you. Guess which one he chose?”

No, that can’t be true.

He had just been on the phone to him an hour ago, he’d said he’d take Aomine’s place-

“The guilt must have finally gotten to him. Huh, strange how that works.”

“…Liar.”

“Hmm?”

“You’re a fucking liar, Kise would never do that. He had no idea that you’d taken me.”

“Or did he?”

“You’re a psychopathic, manipulative bastard. But I know he wouldn’t do that.”

The black haired man clicked his tongue. “So much faith for the man who put you in here…”

“You put me in here!”  
“No, Daiki, that’s where you’re wrong. This is all his fault.”

Aomine wondered how long that this man would go on like this.

Blaming everything on Kise.

Blaming every problem he had.

Blaming Ryouta for his entire pathetic existence.

Daiki also wondered how long it would take in this cell until that he himself, finally believed him.

\---

Shintarou frowned at the shorter man grinning up at him. “Takao, this is ridiculous you can’t just let people stay the night for unknown reasons.”

“For the record, we actually did tell him.” Kagami interrupted raising a hand to interject his sentence. “After.”

“That is correct.” Kuroko added, backing up his boyfriend.

Midorima made a noise of dismay.

“Aw come on Shin-Chan, if you let them stay I’ll-“ Takao pulled the man’s shoulder down so he could whisper in his ear.

The other three didn’t hear what Kazunari had to say, but they were sure it wasn’t something they’d want to hear.

Midorima turned red. “Don’t say such crude things Kazunari.”

Takao grinned, “Now now Shin-Chan you can’t be like that after what we did last Saturda-“  
“Okay, fine. They can stay.” Shintarou interrupted loudly, looking even more flustered than before, which was saying a lot. “But I demand to know what’s happening.”

\---

“That would explain why Aomine is not currently with you.” Shintarou spoke, pushing up his glasses with a practiced precision.

Kise looked to the ground, unable to look at the now four faces that felt like they were staring a hole into him.

“We don’t need you two to do anything. We just hope you can let us stay here until it all blows over… One way or another.” Kuroko said solemnly, clenching his fists.

One way or another?

Ryouta felt himself stop breathing for a second.

So Kuroko had thought about the fact that Aomine might not come back too.

Of course he had, in emergencies such as these. It’s only natural for minds to turn pessimistic.

And yet, the comment hit him hard enough for the blonde to wish that the now three days he’d been told to wait just didn’t seem soon enough.

He needed to find him now.

And yet, there was no way he could.

\---

Daiki understood what he was trying to do now.

What his ‘master plan’ was.

The basketballer thought it ridiculously intricate, and yet he couldn’t help but fearing it would work.

_‘That bastard is trying to make me hate Kise.’_

_‘He’s trying to make me think that he was the one pulling the strings all along.’_

Somehow, that thought alone was more terrifying than any of the beatings Aomine had suffered so far.

He needed a plan.

Something to help him get through this until three days past.

Had it already been a day?

Had it already been an hour?

There would be no way of knowing for Aomine, it all felt like an eternity in this concrete lined prison cell.

He needed a way of avoiding his captor’s devilish dealings for three more days.

Daiki had always been rather strong physically. He could take all the beatings he had to if it meant he would get out of here scot-free with Kise by his side.

It was his mentality that was beginning to worry him deeply.

Just what if his captor succeeded with brain washing him?

The basketballer cringed at the thought.

He didn’t want to go back to resenting Kise. Especially if it were for no reason at all other than someone continuously telling him that the blonde was bad.

But what if Ryouta _was_ bad?

What if he _was_ working with this guy?

What if after all this time, he had been lying to Daiki. Maybe the young model had just been using him to get-

To get what?  
Aomine had nothing to offer.

This was ridiculous, Daiki was being ridiculous.

Rapidly shaking off the poisonous thoughts in his own head that had been meticulously planted there. Aomine thought vigorously for a plan of action. He knew for certain that he couldn’t fight back forever, he would have to give in at some point.

It was proof enough of his current thought process that he wasn’t strong enough mentally to take all the words that were thrown at him in this current state.

So what was he to do?

Aomine heard the door to the room open once more. The clanging making his heart fill with dread. Yet he kept his teeth gritted, and his expression neutral.

Taking a deep breath, Daiki tried to keep himself from lashing out.

Such a thing would only make it so much worse for him in the long run.

Pacing steps, all around him. Making the room echo.

He waited for the other to talk but he didn’t.

He just- stepped around the room.

Was he waiting for Aomine to step out of line again? To say something that he’d regret?

Daiki had learned by now that it was definitely not worth opening his mouth, no matter how awful.

He had told himself he’d be willing to take all kinds of beatings, but it wasn’t as if he desired to do so if possible.

And so he kept his mouth shut and his eyes trained on the floor. Drowning out the once eerie silence in the space.

A breath.

Aomine waited.

But nothing came.

\---

Waiting was killing him.

Kise sat on a sofa, his legs pulled up to his chest as he found himself completely lost in thought as the other four spoke in front of him.

The blonde thought about everything that could possibly happen in the space of three days.

A huge amount of them didn’t sound good.

Kise had received an anonymous email, detailing the address that he’d been told to meet at. It had come not a minute after the call had ended between Ryouta and Daiki’s captor.

The blonde kept staring at it but couldn’t make sense to the maps.

He was so certain that the place seemed familiar to him…

And yet he couldn’t quite recall why.

Why did this guy want to meet all the way in Tokyo?

It seemed so far away…

Maybe that was the point.

The young model sighed, the address itching at him.

Out of pure impatience, Kise decided to just look it up. Hoping to find some insight on such a familiarity.

He typed in the bunch of words that had been given to him. His fingers not moving nearly as fast as he wanted them to be.

Loading…

Kise couldn’t drag his eyes away. His nerves eating away at his senses.

Until finally.

The blonde felt the familiar sense of dread hit him like a train.

The basketball hoops; outside the stadium for the winter cup.

The same place that had started everything. The same place where Aomine had kissed him for the first time. The same place where everything for once in ages felt okay in his life.

He’d arranged for them to meet there.

Ryouta knew that he’d done this to hurt him.

To sully any good memory he had had there…

_And it worked._

 


	25. Oh What Fun This Would Be.

Daiki started to anticipate the regular beatings from within the room.

At least it was something that always came on time.

At least it was something set in stone that would always happened to him.

Time moved faster when there was something to set his mind on, anyways.

Even if it was the fresh blood pouring from his wounds.

It almost became like a game to him. His navy blue eyes trailing over all the cuts he had been given.

Counting them like they were sheep sending him off to sleep.

Sending him off into the dark abyss that was unconsciousness.

Oh and how he wished for that unconsciousness to last long enough that he could be taken away from this place.

Even if it were indefinitely.

\---

Kise hadn’t slept at all since the last phone call he’d had.

He just couldn’t.

Sleeping felt impossible now, without anyone holding him it just felt wrong.

Worst of all, Ryouta found that waiting was the worst torture possible. Watching the clock tick by without anything to do but anticipate its next move.

All of his planning strategies had gone to dust and all he felt was pure helplessness.

At least after all of this was over, Aominecchi would be safe.

Even if Kise had to take his place, he didn’t care.

The blonde just wanted him to be safe.

\---

Aomine was starting to feel hunger in his very bones.

It had been too long without food and Daiki was starting to black out at random places even without being struck at all.

His tongue felt like sandpaper, even talking felt like so much more of a chore.

So instead, he had to hang there, his feet just touching the ground. Listening to the man that had put him there, silently.

Not having enough strength to resist, Aomine let his captor do whatever he wanted with nothing more than a grit of his teeth.

_‘Maybe if he hits me hard enough I’ll die.’_

_‘Why was I In here anyway, who did this to me?’_

Fuzzy thoughts such as these were the only things that got him through the harsh treatment of this cell. The immense confusion he felt could be chalked up to the lack of every basic need that he had been deprived of.

_\---_

Ryouta could see his breath before him as he exited the house in the wee hours of the night. Dead set on the rail line to Tokyo.

He had managed to completely conceal the truth from the others; they wouldn’t be involved.

They wouldn’t be hurt.

\---

It was dark all around Daiki, he wasn’t sure if he’d just blacked out again or if the lights had actually been turned out.

He heard movement and confirmed that the latter was most likely the true notion.

Footsteps, dreaded footsteps.

Aomine knew that those sounds could only lead to more pain and his heart quivered in terror.

Daiki hadn’t been one to be scared of horror movies, of the dark, of monsters.

And yet, nothing chilled him to the bone more than those footsteps did.

It didn’t take long to figure out that he himself was shaking in the chains that bound him to this room.

Yet he wasn’t sure if it was because of fear or hunger.

“Ah, I wonder what Ryouta would say if he saw you now.” A voice called from the abyss, Daiki wasn’t sure if it was in his head or not.

He didn’t say anything.

“Then again, he was the one who put you in here in the first place.”

Was… he?

The tanned man couldn’t seem to remember if Kise had or not. Everything was beginning to grow fuzzier and fuzzier with every shaky breath he took.

“Kise…” Aomine said slowly, his voice like cracked glass. “Did he do this to me?”

Daiki could see that awful smile even in the dark. “Yes, that’s right, Daiki, he did this to you.”

\---

Walking in the dead of night was enough to send electrifying shocks through the blonde’s heart.

He had checked his watch every second as if he was waiting for the numbers to randomly switch to 3:00.

They didn’t.

Even after waiting all this time, Kise still couldn’t seem to quell his impatience.

His fear.

His determination.

Ryouta would be getting Daiki out of there even if it cost the blonde his freedom in its place.

It didn’t matter anymore to him.

Without Aomine, Kise never really felt free. He never saw the stars the same way, he never looked at the dark blue ocean without longing in his chest.

He never really saw the world exactly as he did when he was alongside Aomine.

The blonde clenched his fists, his knuckles turning pale white.

It would be with Aominecchi or not at all.

\---

Kuroko heard the front door close late at night.

He heard the sound of footsteps in the corridor.

He heard the noise of someone leaving the apartment.

Tetsuya sat up from his bed silently. He had been on edge since the very beginning of their stay here and woke up at the slightest sound.

But this time, the kindergarten teacher was sure something was wrong.

Kuroko was absolutely certain that Kise would do something foolish sooner or later and tonight just seemed to be that night.

“Kagami-Kun?”

The redhead beside him groaned at the sound of his name but didn’t open his eyes.

Sighing with impatience Kuroko shook him. “Kagami-Kun, wake up.”

“Eh? What?”

“I think Kise-Kun just left.”

Lazily sitting upright Kagami rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Maybe he just went to the bathroom.”

“No, it was the front door he left out of.”

Taiga hummed, his brain still fuzzy. “Well what do we do?”

“You stay put, Kagami-Kun, I will follow him.”

“Hell no, Kuroko, you woke me up for this I’m coming with you.”

“Your stature and red hair will only draw attention to us.”

“I don’t care, whatever Kise is doing in the middle of the night has to be shifty as fuck and I don’t want you stuck in the middle of it without a little back up.”

Tetsuya was touched by the protectiveness Kagami was displaying, though he still wished that the redhead would understand.

“Kagami-Kun-“

“Nope, don’t even bother.”

“But, I-“

“Get your ass moving, we need to stop this idiot.”

It would only waste time to argue, Kuroko nodded.

\---

Thankfully the pair had caught up enough to see a familiar blonde head in the crowd.

This had to be the first time Tetsuya thanked the Gods that Ryouta was so tall.

The duo spied on their friend, watching his every move.

Kise carried himself strangely these days…

Ryouta was always so confident in his movements, always smirking or grinning, he loved attention and was as competitive as he was pretty.

Though, as Kagami and Kuroko watched him make his way to the train station, there was no air about him at all.

Almost as if he had lost all of the things that had made Kise himself.

All of the guilt, the stress, the anguish that the blonde felt had piled up on him and it was starting to effect who he was as a person.

Tetsuya frowned, scolding himself for not saying anything to the young model sooner. The blue haired man had noticed him acting rather strangely lately, which was of course usual for this situation. Yet, there was just something that Ryouta just wasn’t telling any of them.

Kuroko had a feeling it was something to do with why he was getting on a train to Tokyo in the middle of the night.

\---

“He’s walking to the stadium?” Kagami observed (rather quietly, thankfully.)

Kuroko hummed in agreement, watching the young model walk across the road to where the winter cup had been held.

“Why?”  
“I’m not quite sure, I think we should just wait and see.”

“What if he’s just sleep walking?”

“Don’t be foolish, Kagami-Kun.”

“I’m just saying, it happens.”

\---

Kise watched his wrist, waiting for the clock to turn.

It was getting increasingly harder to see, considering he was shaking like a leaf.

Five more minutes.

Five more minutes until this would end some way or another.

Ryouta just hoped the outcome wasn’t as horrible as the current one.

\---

Daiki was lying down somewhere.

The fact that his whole body actually touched the ground was a strange sensation for him now.

His arms that had gone numb had erupted with fire and the wounds that his captor’s he’d inflicts chaffed against his new rope bindings.

Where the hell was he?

He heard the familiar rumble of a car engine and deduced he was in some kind of van, being taken to God knows where.

But… where?

He couldn’t quite seem to recall.

Something important… somewhere….

_“Aominecchi doesn’t have anything to do with this, let him go and you can have me.”_

\---

Kise had spent every waking hour thinking about any kind of plan that would even be possible at a time like this.

It was as easy as making up strategies for basketball, right?

Even then he wasn’t as bright as others.

His original idea for a plan had fallen through the second he saw where they would be meeting and now there didn’t seem to be a single bit of hope left in the blonde’s body.

And yet, here he stood.

His eyes a mix of grief and determination.

Waiting for the man who had taken away everything from him.

And the man who had given it back.

\---

Kimoi grins in anticipation, his shaking hands set on the wheel.

He would win this.

Of course there would be no way he’d give up Daiki.

He was his perfect pet now, completely docile. Kumo saw in the man’s eyes that he’d just given up on ever retaliating. Hell, the young basketballer didn’t even look like he remembered why he was there in the first place. All that he seemed to realise was that it was all Kise’s fault.

It was perfect.

The perfect revenge for the perfect man.

Oh what fun this will be.

 

 


	26. "I'm So Sorry..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *throws recycled confetti in the air once more*  
> Pls do not the suffer.

Ryouta felt anticipation leak through his senses as he glanced all around himself warily. Waiting for someone to jump out of him.

Waiting for the unseen pursuer to finally show his face to Kise.

Would the blonde finally recognise him? Was he even someone he knew?

The voice on the other line hadn’t sounded any shade of familiar to him.

Then again, it’s strange what a person could do with their voice within a certain amount of time.

Looking down at his feet, Kise pondered just what would happen if all of this went south. Would he get out of this alive? Would Aomine? What would he say to Kagami and Kuroko if he got out of this scot-free but with the blood of their friend on his hands?

No, he couldn’t think like that now, he had to remain focused on the task. He had to be determined for a good outcome, otherwise such a thing would be impossible.

And yet at the same time he couldn’t help but be pessimistic.

If this man had managed to trump Aomine, to actually overpower him enough to keep him captive for a matter of days… What’s to say Kise could beat him?

The young model heard the sound of footsteps from his back and froze immediately.

His back tensed and his blood turned to ice.

There was no more time for thinking and overthinking things over.

The clock had struck three and of course, he was on time.

They both were.

\---

Kagami yawned, leaning against the tree trunk he and Kuroko had been resting against.

Watching Kise stand there like a weirdo was really getting boring. And considering the blonde had decided to do it at the ungodly hour of three in the morning, it wasn’t exactly outrageous for Taiga to want to go back to bed.

The redhead watched Kuroko, his crimson eyes dancing around all of the man’s features as a certain distraction from the boredom.

It only half worked.

Kagami was positive Tetsuya hadn’t made a single facial expression for ten minutes.

Yet, all in a flash Kuroko’s neat posture suddenly tightened into one much more rigid as he looked further into the distance.

Something was up.

“What’s wrong, Kuroko?” The redhead whispered, sitting back up to join his boyfriend on their little spy excursion.

“It…” The blue haired man stuttered, seemingly lost for words. “It’s him.”

“Him? What do you mean?”

Kagami looked at the unusually shocked man, concerning littering his once stony features.

Just what was he looking at?

Taking a peak for himself, Taiga could only supress a gasp of shock.

A person was now behind Kise, not ten metres away from the blonde, hauling behind… something.

Kagami couldn’t figure quite what the ‘thing’ was that the man was dragging, all the redhead knew was that it was huge. Possibly taller than the carrier if stood upright.

It had to be heavier than him… So how was he able to heave it along as if was nearly nothing?

And more importantly, just what was it in the first place?  
It had to be awfully important for him to be lugging it around in the middle of night.

Or awfully illegal…

That’s when it struck him.

“It’s…”

The ‘thing’ that that man seemed to be carrying.

That limp, large, body…

It was Aomine.

\---

Kise couldn’t find it in himself to turn around yet.

After all of this waiting, he still felt the crippling fear he did that moment he opened the first letter. He still felt the dread collecting in his chest after that night two years ago. He still felt the loneliness that he had felt throughout this whole situation.

“Ryouta.”

A voice likened to snakes hissing called his name and Kise shivered.

The blonde knew it was his signal to turn around, he knew it, and yet he didn’t obey. He didn’t want to see and yet at the same time it was killing him to know.

It was some strange defiance, some cocktail of hatred for the man behind him and terror for the other he was hauling by his side.

Steeling himself, the young model took a deep breath. Shifting his body to face his fate.

Whatever it may be.

\---

“Do you still have that detective’s number?” Kuroko asked Kagami, never tearing his eyes away from the scene unravelling before him.

“Yes.” Taiga answered plainly, digging out his phone.

“Call him.”

The redhead complied, his senses fully awakened by fear for his two friends. He found the contact number and his heart raced.

Tetsuya knew full well that whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He also knew that there would be no way that authorities would turn up in time.

He needed a plan to get both Kise and Aomine out of this.

But the question was;

How?

\---

Ryouta held his breath as he looked upon the two before him. One standing, one slumped on the ground.

His heart clenched painfully in his chest as he saw the familiar head of blue hair against the concrete.

It had only been a matter of days but Kise felt the very same this time as the afternoon he’d found Daiki on the basketball courts of Tokyo.

It was strange how Kise hadn’t realised what significance the basketball courts in Tokyo held to him. They both held nostalgic moments as well as painful memories.

Everything led back to that one night in Tokyo where everything began and everything ended.

The blonde tore his eyes from the body on the ground, swallowing in fear as he looked up at the man holding the ambiguously unconscious Aomine by the neck of his tattered shirt. The two were yet to come into the light, yet Ryouta could still see the outline of both of their faces.

Kise was almost relieved that he didn’t recognise one of them.

It would make things easier.

“Aominecchi…” The young model breathed out, looking at the unresponsive body of the one man he loved most in the cruel world.

It brought pains in his heart knowing how much the basketballer must have went through to be like this…

And he had done nothing to save him.

“Daiki, it’s rude to not greet people when you see them. Make sure you say hello to Ryouta.” The spidery voice that Ryouta had heard on nothing but cell phone calls echoed across the courts like a haunting crash.

Aomine looked up, his navy blue eyes meeting Kise.

The blonde stopped breathing.

What was once obscured by the lighting, by the angle of his face was now uncovered.

The hundreds of still bleeding cuts that littered the man’s body, the scabbing puncture holes that could only be presumed to be from injections of God knows what…

And the worst of all, Daiki’s eyes.

They didn’t hold any kind of hatred for the man beside him at all, they were completely without determination.

They held nothing.

Kise felt hatred burn through his body, stronger than anything else.

“I’ll kill you.” The blonde growled at the grinning man before him, clenching his fists to prevent himself from doing something stupid.

“Now, now, that wasn’t part of the deal…” The other spoke almost instantaneously, an insane smile crossing the man’s sallow face. “If you’re looking for a fight, however, I would be rather happy to oblige.”

Turning to the slumped figure on the ground, his smile grew wider.

“Look, Daiki, it’s Ryouta, it’s Kise, it’s the one who put you in that cell.”

Ryouta felt time in place as Aomine looked back up at him.

The hatred that Kise was sure was reserved for the man beside him… It was being directed back on Ryouta.

“Aominecchi, don’t listen to him! He was brainwashing you! I would never do anything to hurt you, I promise!” The desperation in the blonde’s voice seemed to fall on deaf ears as Aomine’s expression never changed from the numb one.

Daiki rose to his feet, weakly.

 His legs stumbling over themselves as he struggled to move on his own.

One step.

He moved towards Kise.

Another step.

Advancing to the blonde slowly, but surely.

Ryouta stood there, watching his every move. Hating himself a little bit more everytime he saw another wound upon the man’s beautiful body.

Would Daiki ever forgive him for this?

Kise knew he didn’t deserve it…

Aomine stilled, about a metre in front of the young model, his head craning upwards as he swayed ever so slightly.

The tanned man tilted, as if he was going to fall over.

Leaning too far forwards, the young basketballer was seconds away from crashing to the ground.

“Aominecchi!” Kise cried, rushing across the remaining difference to catch him.

“I suggest you don’t do that…” The captor called dangerously from the side lines his smile growing larger by the minute.

Kise looked at him in confusion.

“What do you me-“

The blonde was hit front on by a large force.

Tackled to the ground.

There was only one thing in his way that could have done that.

Aomine.

\---

Kuroko stood from his place in the shrubs, unable to watch anymore.

“Kuroko! Where are you going-“Kagami began, just as the blue haired boy rushed out and it was too late.

\---

Kise had the wind knocked out of him as surprise filled his every sense.

Daiki had just taken him down.

This could only mean one thing.

That man had finally convinced him that the blonde here was the one doing such things to him.

And in a way, he was. Ryouta couldn’t deny that this was his fault in the first place.                               

Yet, the way Aomine looked as he stared at the young model, his eyes so different from the ones that used to look at him before.

It shattered his heart in so many ways possible.

Their faces stared at each other and Kise tried to will the tears in his eyes way. Knowing how pathetic he looked.

“I’m sorry, Aominecchi, I’m so sorry.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp...  
> I promise this will have a happy ending!  
> I promise!


	27. Falling, Falling, Falling...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SORRY I'M SOR-

Kise felt a crushing pain within his chest.

He had failed.

Whatever that man had done to Daiki...

It must have worked.

The blonde knew in his heart that he’d never be able to forgive himself for this. For reconnecting with his old flame, for trying to make things work despite the odds.

And now he’d lost everything.

Ryouta wished it had been him going through all of those awful things Aomine must have endured in the sake of the young model.

Ryouta wished that that awful man, grinning at the site before himself- he wished that he’d taken Kise instead.

At least that way, there would be reassurance in Aomine’s safety.

Kise felt tears well up in his eyes as he bared to look at the man pinning him down.

He couldn’t bring himself to do.

He couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t, he couldn’t!

The blonde felt something touch his cheek.

A hand.

A soft brush of fingertips from an unknown source.

“Don’t worry, Kise.” Aomine croaked out, his voice sounding as dry and cracked as he looked on the outside.

The blonde looked up then. Ryouta rose his gaze, in pure confusion at the words coming out of the basketballer’s mouth.

Trailing his eyes up, Kise didn’t see the same dead, expressionless face he did before.

He saw determination.

He saw recognition.

And above all else he saw a smile.

It was weak, sure. It wobbled with every edge of Daiki’s being. Yet it was a smirk nevertheless.

Had that all been an act..?

Had Aomine had this all planned?

“How did you…” Kise whispered, his eyes the size of saucers.

Aomine put a hand over his mouth. Silencing him for now.

The darkest of circles under the tanned man’s skin, from bruises, from lack of sleep. From all of the torture that was inflicted upon him.

They didn’t stop Daiki from having a plan in mind.

“Just go along with this…” Aomine spoke again quietly, his reassuring features was all Kise needed to let himself feel at ease.

He’d do whatever that Daiki needed him to do.

\---

Daiki had thrown himself and Ryouta on to the ground with a strong amount of force.

Kimoi smiled, his tactics obviously at work.

He was a genius.

The moment Aomine saw the blonde, he’d wanted to attack him…

This was perfect.

Daiki rose from his position on the ground after a while, grabbing the young model up by the neck and Kise winced in pain, tears clinging to his eyes.

Kumo made no move to stop them.

This was somehow more satisfying then having his own hands around the blonde’s neck.

“Aominecchi… please… stop…” Ryouta chokes out, grasping at the hands strangling him.

After all of these years of plotting, of planning.

Seeing his master scheme in the flesh now…

It was so incredibly satisfying.

Though weakened, Daiki was still perfectly capable of handling Kise by himself.

Mainly because the blonde was so shocked that he had become positively frozen with fear. He was too weak to hurt Aomine, the man he loved.

Pathetic.

Kumo felt himself let out a hysterical laugh at the scene, approaching them slowly as if to savour the ever-so-sweet moment playing out in front of him.

“Perfect, perfect, perfect! Daiki! You’re more than I could have ever wished for!” The spider laughed, his arms spanning wide from body. “This is going exactly to plan!”

Kise looked at the man then, tearing his gaze from Aomine.

“That’s where you’re wrong.”

Ryouta’s voice…

It didn’t sound suffocated… Asphixiated… It sounded normal.

How could that be? Aomine’s hands were wrapped around his neck…

What?

“Are you deluded, Ryouta? I’ve won!” Shocked at the young model’s rather bold words in the face of death itself.

Lightning quick, Daiki’s grip on the young model loosened suddenly, leaving Kimoi to step back in severe surprise.

Kise stepped away from the tanned man, taking a long awaited place by his side once more. Aomine felt himself lean on the man out of pure exhaustion.

Yet out of sheer will power, he held his head high.

He was too much of a stubborn bastard to pass out now.

Especially when it was getting good…

“You didn’t think you were the only one that can play dirty tricks, did you?” Kise spat.

“Wh-What?!”

What was going on?

This couldn’t be happening.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

Kimoi felt his hands shake in rage. Angered at the confusion he was feeling.

“I’ll give you one thing, you’re a psychopathic, manipulative son of a bitch and I hate you with every inch of my fucking being.” Aomine mumbled out, the last bit of his strength leaking out from him. “But I’m afraid that I’m not going to let you steal this idiot from me again.”

“No!” Kimoi screamed in rage. Searching his pockets for the object he’d put in his jacket just in case things went south.

Where was it, where was it, where was it, where was it?

There it was.

A gun.

Clasping his hands around the handles Kumo let out an incredulous shriek.

Kise and Aomine looked taken aback, not having premeditated the presence of a lethal weapon in the possession as someone as unstable as the man before them.

This would be bad.

“You just had to mess everything up again! You just had to ruin everything for me! Just like that day all those years ago! You destroyed me, you destroyed my life! I had people watching me, I had _everyone_ watching me. I would be the one to defeat Kise Ryouta, the famous copycat of the Generation of Miracles! But instead, I lost my future to you,” blind hatred made the gun in the man’s hands shake tremendously, his words rising in pitch with every second.

Ryouta didn’t feel his expression change.

“And I’ll never remember your name, because you were so irrelevant to me that I couldn’t be bothered to learn it.”

Kise knew the words were cruel.

But after everything…

Was it really?

This man had sullied so many good memories for the blonde, so many opportunities, so many lost moments with Aomine…

No, he deserved no mercy.

Sure, he had a gun with him.

But would he really shoot it?

When it all came down to it… Would this man actually kill someone?

Would he kill the man he had been obsessing over all these years? 

The spider of a man’s face contorted with such a fierce anger that he almost looked unrecognisable. “You!” He screamed, his wobbly steps drawing closer to the pair that had turned the tables on him.

Kise and Aomine felt themselves freeze, not in fear no, not quite. More like in anticipation.

They were waiting for something to happen.

Something to save them.

Something to kill them.

Kise wasn’t sure if it was him that grabbed a hold of Aomine’s hand or if it was the tanned basketballer himself.

All he knew was that if Daiki made out of this alive, he’d be okay.

“I love you Daikicchi…” Ryouta feels himself murmur, his eyes shutting closed for the moment.

“I love you too Ryouta.”

Kise was faced by the very real fate that he could die within a matter of seconds.

And yet, he wasn’t really scared.

It was strange… really.

Almost as if he expected to get out of this unscathed, using some kind of ridiculous plan, forged by a super detective from a movie.

Ridiculous.

Kise almost smiles.

Almost.

He hears the sound of footsteps approaching them, hurried and ever quickening.

Does he want to open his eyes to see his last moments?

The blonde knows he shouldn’t, and yet he can’t seem to resist it.

Temptation never was one of his strong suits…

Just look where he was standing now?

Opening his hazel eyes for what he thinks is the last time his vision is assaulted by a rather strange sight.

A familiar blue haired man advancing towards the pair and the man holding them captive with his weapon. Incredible speed. Determination spread across his usually plain features.

He attacks the black haired man, coming at the man with all of the strength he has in that rather small body of his.

The shadow’s hand closes around the man’s face with such an astounding force that Kise swear he hears more than one bone crack.

“Kurokocchi?” Kise cries, his once swelled shut eyes opened as wide as can be in pure amazement. It was as if he had materialised out of nowhere.

That always was his specialty…

The taller man stumbled from the surprised blow. Not seeing Kuroko advance towards him at all.

His feet go backwards, then forwards. His hands splay out in front of body.

And then…

The spider falls. His gun making one last crow before it falls from his grasp.

The man crumbles onto his knees, knocked out like a light.

Kise feels a sick relief in his gut looking at the sight before him.

A deep, painful thankfulness for Kuroko overwhelms his senses and it stings.

Was this really what deep gratitude felt like…?

Ryouta feels himself look down, almost as if this feeling was a physical entity.

He notices a patch of blood pooling from his shirt instead.

_‘Ah so it wasn’t relief at all.’_

And just like his captor, just like the man he feared, despised and hated most.

Kise falls too.

The last thing the blonde hears is three shouts of his name and can’t help but be thankful for such good friends.

In one single night Kise’s life seemed to slip out from under him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls don't kill me yet, i need to clean up my own messy, messy, mess


	28. Give Yourself A Day.

Aomine screams as the blonde crumbles to the ground.

His last remaining strength being used to rush to his side, he too falling onto the cool ashphalt ground.

The utter willpower of holding himself up was just not enough anymore, he was weak, he was starving, he was dehydrated. It was a wonder how he kept conscious for this long.

And yet he keeps himself awake. Begging his eyes to keep open for more time.

This didn’t want to be the last time he saw Kise.

This couldn’t be.

Not after everything.

Aomine chokes back a sob.

Kuroko and Kagami look at the scene, played out before them in pure horror, the world spinning in slow motion. They watched their two friends on the floor.

One covered with cuts and bruises.

And one lying in a pool of their own blood.

The gun that had fired from the other man’s hand… It had been shot, pointed towards Kise…

Ryouta had been shot.

Aomine shakes the blonde beside him, waiting for him to open his eyes again. Daiki doesn’t hear himself but he’s almost certain that he’s shrieking the young model’s name.

It was as if Daiki was trying to call the young model back from the light calling out at him.

Not yet, not yet, not yet.

“Call an ambulance!” Tetsuya snaps out of the daze first, his eyes turning to the redhead, his face a look of extreme shook and fear.

Kagami hears the blue haired man’s voice and is seemingly put back into action.

The basketballer fumbles for his own phone, his hands shaking.

“Shit, shit, shit…” Kagami curses, his breathing quickening as he looked at the scene.

Kise was losing blood, fast.

Kuroko could already tell this would be close.

The blue haired boy rushes to the pair’s side. Seeing if there’s anything he could do with his limited first aid training…

He hadn’t been taught to deal with bullet wounds, but maybe he could stop the blood.

No, he had to.

If he didn’t, Tetsuya could tell that Ryouta wouldn’t make it. 

\---

Kuroko can’t help but feel his chest clench at the sight of two of his former team mates. He couldn’t help but feel utterly useless as his two friends were in their respected rooms, being poked and prodded by doctors that knew a lot more than Tetsuya ever could know.

They’d been told to wait in a cramped room, filled to the brim with others just like them. If there was any information at all, that would be where they would undoubtedly find out.

Kagami and Kuroko had been sitting in the waiting room for two hours with no signs of anything at all.

Nothing bad but also…

Nothing good.

Tetsuya sighs, a deep frown twitching at his expression. The grim situation that they all faced now, it would be one of the darkest they had ever faced.

If one of them didn’t make it, well he was sure the other wouldn’t last that long without the other emotionally. The pair had become inseparable these past months, even more so than they were back at Teiko. Kuroko could tell it would break either one of them to lose the other. Especially after just getting back together after so long.

Hell, even when Aomine was captured and nothing more, Kise was but a shell of himself, a stoic, uncharacteristic mess. 

Clenching his fists, Tetsuya closes his eyes once more.

It would be all or nothing and the young shadow simply couldn’t take the latter option.

Not after all the events that had just unravelled before all four pairs of their eyes. 

“They’re gonna be fine.” He hears Kagami mumble from beside him, the redhead looking as tired as Kuroko feels on the inside. The blue haired man can tell he’s about as worried too.

The basketballer draws his arm around the old shadow, letting Kuroko’s head rest lightly on his shoulder.

Kuroko doesn’t say anything in return but is thankful for the small comfort that Kagami had just provided him with.

And then they wait.

\---

Daiki awakens first.

His arms strapped with chords and his limbs feeling heavier than ever. They ache with a kind of fuzzy pain that feel almost fake in some way.

They must have drugged him…

Aomine’s mind refreshes his thoughts, letting him be known of all that had happened in the space of time until he fell unconscious. He has the terrifyingly eerie thought that that whole ordeal could have very well been some hellish nightmare and can’t help but gather goose bumps on his tan coloured arms.

But no, this was real life.

Kise had been shot right in front of him.

And he’d done nothing to save him.

He wasn’t quick enough, he wasn’t smart enough. He should have jumped in front of him…

Daiki had promised the blonde that he’d protect him, he’d promised and now this had happened.

Aomine’s heart races, the quickening of his pulse alerting the machines to his consciousness.

The shrill beeping of the computers to his sight ring in the basketballer’s ears and he blinks just the slightest bit. 

“Don’t.”

Daiki hears a voice from his left.

A quiet, polite voice that he’d been hearing since middle school.

Aomine tries to speak, to ask him where Kise was but can’t seem to find his voice.

Instead, he trails his navy blue eyes toward his former shadow looking at him with enough anticipation that he hopes Kuroko gets what he’s trying to convey.

Tetsuya examines him silently, his expression turning grave.

“Kise-Kun… he- he’s still in surgery. He lost a lot of blood, so they said they weren’t sure if they were going to be able to save him.”

Daiki can’t seem to calm himself down because the beeping just grows louder and louder. It overtakes his senses.

It consumes him until a group of nurses surround him and sedate him further into a deeper sleep then before

\---

Kagami had never seen Aomine like this.

The cocky bastard had always been so confident, always smirking. He never showed weakness, he never even seemed to let anything affect him in any extreme way.

And yet, as the redhead saw him today, lying unconscious on a stark white bed.

He’d never seen his team mate look so vulnerable.

Kuroko nodded at him warily, turning to go and wait for more results.

“You must have gone through hell…” Taiga sighs, scratching the back of his head with his hand. “But I know you’re a stubborn bastard if anything else so you’re going to be fine, I know it.”

\---

Aomine only sees darkness for a while.

Almost like his eyelids were too heavy, like it was physically impossible to open his eyes.

Was he dead?

No, that was impossible. He was still in a large amount of pain.

Not that that was any indicator. Aomine was never a big believer in heaven, hell, the afterlife any of it. He just kind of felt what would happen would happen.

But now, as he gazed into the black abyss, he couldn’t help but panic that he would spend eternity here by himself. Waiting for the inevitable that could possibly never come entirely.

It was agony waiting like this, but the basketballer knew he couldn’t fight this entity. Even he was smart enough to know so.

All he could do was exist in this space until he was pulled out of whatever the hell this place truly was.

If he could be.

\---

The stark of night turns into morning in all but a few hours and Kuroko yawns.

“You should get some rest.” He hears his redhead companion speak beside him, knowing full well that he was being hypocritical in his dealings.

“Maybe that would be for the best…” Tetsuya murmurs beside Taiga, his sleepy eyes struggling to be kept open.

Kagami hides the yawn he has on his own behind a long sleeved jacket and tries his best to smile at the kindergarten teacher.

“I’ll let you know if anything happens.”  
“Please do, Kagami-Kun.”

It’s not so long after that that the redhead himself nods off.

Not intentionally, of course.

The sheer exhaustion of being awake all night had finally gotten to him and he couldn’t do anything but want to take the tiniest of naps.

Kagami will probably hate himself for it later, but until then. Resting his eyes sounds like the greatest idea he’s ever had.

\---

Finally, Kuroko is shaken awake by Kagami.

There was a doctor to see them.

“Aomine-Kun suffered from severe dehydration and starvation as well as many infected cuts. Luckily, there were no unsalvageable arteries and he’ll be fine physically. He’s being fed through a tube as we speak as he’s unconscious for the time being. It is good that he has woken up once, very good actually. It means that the shock his body has endured didn’t induce a coma. He’ll be fully recovered in a matter of weeks. You’ll be able to see him in about an hour. I predict that will be when he wakes up.”

The pair try not to be overwhelmed by all the information they have to take in and Kuroko takes a deep breath.

“Thank you, doctor.”

At least now, they knew where they stood.

Somewhere.

\---

Daiki opens his eyes for the second time, alone.

It’s freeing really, having all of his senses get their shit together at once.

The basketballer blinks once, twice, three times and lets his pupils adjust to the light.

He ignores the pain all about his body and tries his best to get enough feeling in his arms to actually move them.

But then again, the young basketballer was never all that patient to begin with.

“Fuck…” He curses, his voice coming out as dry and hoarse as his insides feel.

He was utterly hopeless.

With no one here he couldn’t even see what happened to Kise.

His heart was pounding with anticipation, but Aomine tried to calm himself. The last time he’d thought about such things, all that had happened was that he was put back to sleep.

And he r _eally_ didn’t want to do that.

So instead, he works on moving his hand.

Just a single hand.

His index finger twitches.

Aomine scowls, just what drugs did they give him?

Daiki hears a door open, somewhere on his left and tries to turn his head.

Success.

The basketballer’s almost proud of himself.

“Tetsu?” Aomine asks, squinting his eyes at the familiar blue haired boy in the door way.

He looked tired, gloomy.

This couldn’t be good.

“Aomine-Kun, are you feeling better?”

Daiki feels himself roll his eyes. “Yeah, I feel fuckin’ fantastic. I can’t even move my God damn legs.”

“They gave you quite a lot of sedatives, Aomine-Kun, I’m sure it will wear off soon enough.” Kuroko looked at his shoes nervously, like he was hoping to avoid a certain conversation topic that would definitely be brought up.

“Where’s Kise?”

Bingo.

Tetsuya freezes slightly, a small frown tugging at his lips. “Aomine-Kun, promise me that you won’t freak out.”

Dread sinks through the basketballer’s bones as he feels himself weakly nod.

“Kise-Kun, is okay, he’s asleep, but he’s going to make a full recovery.”

Kuroko let’s himself smile.

Aomine feels relief seep into his veins as he grins back at his old shadow. “I have to go see him!”  
Tetsuya cringes. “That’s what I was afraid you’d say.”

“Don’t be stupid, Tetsu, I need to see for myself!”  
“Aomine-Kun you can’t even move your body yet.”

“So?” The basketballer says rather matter-of-factly.

“You don’t see the fault in that plan?”

Daiki frowns, knowing of exactly what Kuroko was talking about.

“When can I see him?” Aomine sighs like a petulant child.

“Give yourself a day.”

“A day!?”  
“It’s not that long Aomine-Kun, you did wait three days before that.”

Daiki cringes at the memory, his mind pushing it to the back of his mind.

Of course, there was that to deal with.

There was no way he was going to be fully okay after the hell he went through there.

But right now…

He just wanted to see Kise.

“Fine.”

Aomine agreed.

 


	29. Impatience.

It’s about one in the afternoon when a pair of detectives arrive at the foot of Daiki’s bed. Striding through the door like they own the place.

They’re dressed in expensive suits and have hard set faces; typical looking law enforcement employees.

Aomine tries not to scowl at them when the one on the left clears his throat.

“Aomine Daiki, I presume?” The man speaks, his greying hair making him look a lot older than what he probably was.

“That would be me.” The tanned man responds, his voice still a little hoarse from before.

“We’re from the Tokyo police department. My name is Nanami and this is Sakurai.” The adult from before gestures to himself and then his partner.

Aomine nods in recognition but waits for them to speak first.

Forever stubborn…

Kuroko and Kagami had left his side for about an hour before this situation.

Presumably going to check on Kise.

Daiki fought the urge to snarl once more.

He _really_ wanted to see Kise.

But here he was, confined to this God awful bed that he’d already grown to hate with a very extreme passion.

At least he could sit up now…

One step closer, the basketballer supposed.

Well, a metaphorical step closer, considering he couldn’t fucking walk yet.

“We’re here to ask you a few questions.” The second detective, a woman spoke. Her stern voice not matching her sweet looking features.

Aomine knew this would be coming, but he didn’t quite know what to think about it.

His time in that cellar, the man that held him there. Aomine desperately wanted them to be distant, distant memories that could be forgotten with a snap of his fingers.

The things that had been done to him in there had been awful, Daiki knew that. He’d be certain to have nightmares in the near future.

And yet, he couldn’t fully comprehend the whole impact of it. It was almost as if the entire thing was fuzzy, almost dream like.

Which was impossible, he had enough wounds to prove that.

And yet…

There was just some shiny quality to the situation that Aomine couldn’t quite comprehend…

Maybe it was better that way anyway, Daiki would take anything to rid his mind of that dark cellar completely.

“Go ahead,” Aomine swallowed, meeting the pair’s eyes.

The two exchange a glance.

“The questions we’re going to ask you, they’re going to be rather… detailed, if you want for us to stop. Please say so, we don’t want to worsen your condition and prevent your good health from returning.”

Daiki smirked, “bring it on.”

The basketballer tried to put on a brave face.

And by the cautious looks that the pair of detectives had given him, they weren’t exactly believing him.

Nevertheless, he didn’t put that brave face on for them.

In reality, without even knowing. Aomine did it for himself.

“I’m sure you’re wondering where Kimoi Kumo is right now.”

Aomine felt his mind blank. “Who’s that?”

Another glance to each other.

“The man that captured you.”

Daiki felt the name cross his mind, almost as if another piece of the puzzle was finally fitting in.

He didn’t recognise it.

Which he was thankful for.

It made things easier.

“Anyway, he has been detained in holding for the moment, he will be standing trial in a matter of weeks. Your friend hit him pretty hard so he may have to undergo surgery.”

Aomine nearly smiled at that.

The memory was foggy but he did recall Kuroko flogging the bastard, appearing out of nowhere as per usual.

“We need you to tell us any information on what he’s motive may be. Anything that could tell us why he decided to blackmail Kise-San.”

The basketballer searched his memories for something that could be of hope.

He wanted that psychopath gone for good.

“A basketball game.” Aomine breathed, his black haired captor’s words snarling at him in the back of his own head.

Daiki shivered inwardly.

This was harder than he expected.

The detectives held their silence, obviously waiting for the other man to elaborate.

“Kise was a big basketballer when he was in high school. Uh- Kimoi said that he lost to him as well as the chance to be scouted because of him.”

Taking notes, the woman asks him another question. 

“Was he… unstable during your time?”

“Have you seen him?” Aomine replied back, scowling.

“No, he’s been unconscious since last night.” The lady solemnly replied back, obviously not sensing the other’s rhetorical question.

That, or she chose to ignore it completely.

“Good.” Daiki gripped his sheets with his hands, trying to black out the memory of the man’s face. Of Kimoi’s face.

He tried to forget how cold the blade that cut his skin was.

How the blood flowed out of him slowly, like a leaking faucet.

How those pale fingers on his cheek scraped his skin.

Aomine inhaled, long and deep. Trying to keep his composure.

“He was unstable. He shook when he got angry. He lost it a lot, he yelled. His perception of Kise was so warped that I couldn’t tell if it was some kind of sick love or such an extreme hatred that he didn’t know how to deal with it.”

Daiki didn’t realise he was shaking until he brought his hands up in front of his face.

Was he really that scared?

Did this event scar him that much?

Aomine realised with a dread that he couldn’t get away from that man so easily. He would haunt his dreams for a long time even after he left his physical presence.

It was awful and it made Daiki start to breathe erratically.

“That bastard…” The basketballer swore, his eyes squinting over and over as if the flashing darkness would rid him of those awful memories.

It didn’t.

“Aomine-San, we can stop if-“

“No. If this means he gets locked up for longer, I’ll answer every single question you throw at me.”

“Okay, but please tell us-“

“Just get on with it.”

Sighing, the man met his eyes once more. “Was there any reason that Kimoi Kumo targeted you as his victim?”

Daiki didn’t even have to think for his answer.

He already knew.

“He wanted to break Kise. He wanted to break everything around him. He wanted to break everything he cared about. I fit in there and he decided I was the lucky son of a bitch that got to endure all of his messed up shit.”

“So he kidnapped you because you were important to Kise?”

“Yes.”

“How so?”

Aomine breathed, his limited patience wearing thin.

“I’m pretty sure he was jealous that I was fucking him and he wasn’t.”

_‘Way to go Daiki.’ The basketballer’s mind chided._

_‘What else was I going to say?” He shot back at himself._

Besides, Daiki couldn’t help but feel a little smug about the two detective’s surprised expressions that they held.

It put his mind at ease. It gave him a distraction.

“You owe me twenty dollars, Nanami.” The woman speaks under her breath, meticulously cleaning the dust off her already pristine black blazer.

\---

Kise wakes up alone and disorientated.

The light orange glow from outside hurting his eyes as he struggles to move his arms in front of his face.

There’s a severe pain in the middle of his chest but it seems numbed by some kind of drug.

_‘What the hell happened?’ His mind begins to wonder, his head lulling to the side just the slightest bit as he thought._

The memories come back in flashes and Ryouta feels everything all at once.

“Aominecchi!” He shoots forward, his back arching in pain.

Big mistake.

The tubes connected to the young model’s arms shudder from the sudden movement and the blonde feels dizzy.

The pain in his chest doubles and he can’t help but wince.

Gingerly lying down, he waits for something, anything to tell him that it’s going to be okay.

That Aominecchi is okay.

He has to be, surely.

\---

After what feels like absolutely forever. The blonde hears a door open and sees a light blue head walk in.

The man walks in like he had done so before, his eyes scanning the blonde cautiously, looking for any signs that his condition was different.

Tetsuya sees that Ryouta’s eyes are open and nearly stands back in shock.

“Kise-Kun.” Tetsuya acknowledges, his eyes blown wide with surprise. “The doctor said you wouldn’t wake up for another matter of days.”

“I’m pretty rebellious like that, Kurokocchi.” The blonde feels himself smile a little, happy to see that Kuroko was okay, at least. “What happened?”  
“You were shot.”

“I know that.” Kise replies impatiently. “Is Aominecchi okay?”

Tetsuya tenses slightly but can’t hide the calm expression on his face. “Yes, he’s fine. He woke up a few hours ago. He hasn’t stopped asking for you since. Kagami-Kun is with him now.”

The blonde swallows the lump in his throat at the idea of Aomine being okay.

It was too good to be true.

“C-can I see him?”

Kuroko’s face falls.

“I suggest you wait for a while so that the doctors can properly assess yo-“

“Let me through Kagami, don’t be a fucking dumbass!”

“Kise doesn’t want to see your ugly face just after waking up, believe me.”

“Fuck off.”

Ryouta’s eyes widen in disbelief.

“Was that-“

Kuroko sighs, looking at beyond the door. Exasperated that the hospital walls were so thin.

“Kagami-Kun, I thought you said you were going to watch Aomine-Kun.”

Kise hears the redhead groan in anger but doesn’t see him. “I did but then he heard you say that you were going to see Kise and freaked the fuck out. Then he swivelled off the bed like a fucking ninja and made me help him over here.”

“How did he make yo-“

“He said he was going to tell the doctors that I pushed him over otherwise.”

Ryouta fights the grin coming onto his face as the door opens.

Two idiots pile in, both basketballers hobbling through the entrance, looking extremely uncomfortable.

The moment Kise locks eyes with Aomine, his golden pupils fill with tears.

“Kise…” Daiki breathes.

“Aominecchi…”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Backflips into the sun.*


	30. The Final Night.

_‘I swear to God Daiki, don’t cry… Don’t do this to yourself.’_

The inner mechanisms of Aomine’s mind were working overtime to keep his overflowing emotions in check.

And despite their very best efforts, it wasn’t working very well.

Because as soon as he saw Kise on that hospital bed, he felt like he was going to explode with every kind of feeling there ever was.

_‘Stupid feelings, what did I do to deserve this?’_

Despite what his basketball opponents may say; Aomine Daiki was human just like the rest of them, he had a heart that could be broken, and he had a chest that could fill with butterflies when he was nervous. He lived and breathed and broke down…

A few months ago Aomine saw such things as hindrances in his life.

After all, who would need such trifling things?

All he needed was basketball, all he need was a rival, someone to beat, someone to beat him.

_Something to assure him that he wasn’t the monster people kept telling him he was._

But now; Daiki wasn’t sure he hated such feelings anymore.

The ones he felt now; even though they were strong. Even though some coiled around him like a venomous snake.

Some emotions made him feel warm inside, they made him feel whole.

They made him feel happy.

Aomine doesn’t wait for Kagami to drag him over to Kise’s side. He figures he can make it there himself if he tries hard enough.

Luckily for him; it’s only a few strides forward and he’s there.

And yet it feels like a mile after what they’ve both been through.

The tanned man practically collapses beside the bed side, his legs giving out entirely under his own weight and wraps his arms around the blonde without even thinking about the risks.

Having Kise in his arms again was something that Aomine wanted more than anything in the world when he was being tormented by that awful man…

Before he knows it, the tears that he so dreadfully wished to hold back were unleashed upon the apples of his cheeks and he was crying.

Kise was alive.

Kise was here, right beside him.

Something about that fact overwhelmed Aomine to the point of tears.

The blonde had been the only thing that kept Daiki going in that, dark, horrible cellar he had been chained in.

“I’m sorry Aominecchi.” Daiki heard Ryouta whisper in his ear, the young model’s arms enveloping the basketballer the very same way Aomine held him. Kise held on so tight, so strongly that Daiki was surprised of the man’s strength.

But he didn’t pull away, no, he didn’t dare.

“Why are you sorry?” Aomine sniffled, “You’re the one that got shot.”

“Yeah but it was my fault you got- got, taken in the first place.”

Daiki grabbed hold of Ryouta’s cheeks. “Don’t ever think that, Kise, that wasn’t your fault. None of this was. I don’t blame you at all. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Kise looked Aomine then, his eyes wide with thankfulness.

Maybe it was because someone else was finally telling Kise these things, not just himself.

Maybe it was because all of this was finally over.

But Ryouta couldn’t help but heave a sigh in enormous relief.

He had everything back again.

He had Aomine. He had his friends.

He could even see his family again.

“I love you…” The blonde uttered out before he could stop himself; feeling the truth leave his lips without warning.

Aomine doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t even react before he says “I love you too.” Right back at the young model.

They were both a mess. There were so many things to figure out.

But at the end of it, Kise was certain that they’d both be okay.

Right now, he was free from fear.

He knew it would follow him even after the threat was gone, _but he was okay with that._  

Living with lingering fear was better than the constant paranoia that the blonde used to face alone.

It was strange but Kise could only feel acceptance for the scenario that had played out now.

In the end, the shadow of his past, that awful threat was gone.

And both himself and Aomine were alive to see another day.

Together

Ryouta didn’t know how else to react, really; for the first time in what felt like years. He was genuinely at peace with his situation.

**_And it was all perfect._ **

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There were two reoccurring thoughts stuck in Aomine’s head. The same two things constantly playing back over and over like a broken record player.

The first being basketball, no true shock to anyone that was familiar to him. Basketball in general was something the man lived and breathed.

He felt more connected to the sport ever since he joined the national team; and nothing could take away his high of having so many tough opponents to face.

The second, well, it used to be a complete mystery to him as to why this particular man was always invading his personal thoughts. It used to plague Aomine at night, it used to make him stay up late wondering about it.

But after so many years of thinking (which was never his strong suit in the first place) Daiki finally established the reason as to why this certain blonde stuck in his head after all this time.

After seeing him in the yellow tulips in the field he walked by to get to school.

After seeing him in the sunlight that flashed down on him; warm and pleasant.

It was finally clear to Aomine that he loved Kise Ryouta with all of his heart.

And what was better was that the man himself loved him back.

“Ryouta, what the fuck are you doing in there?” Aomine all but screeched at the blonde, who had forbidden Daiki from entering the kitchen at all costs.

Not letting Aomine enter the kitchen of all places…

It was an awful idea.

“Patience is a virtue, Daikicchi~” Kise all but sung.

“Please do be lenient, Aomine-Kun, Kise wanted this to be special.” Kuroko called from his side. Looking at the basketballer as if he was keeping a secret.

Aomine didn’t like it one bit.

“You know what he’s doing in there, don’t you?” Daiki squinted his eyes at the shadow.

Tetsuya kept his pleasant smile, his lips not moving an inch to tell Aomine about the secret that he’d been keeping for well over two months.

Daiki was sure he would have noticed Kuroko’s smug smile sooner if he actually lived with the sneaky kindergarten teacher anymore.

Fortunately for Aomine, he no longer had to listen to the raucous sex noises that came from both of his former roommates anymore.

About a month after both Kise and he had left the hospital; the two had decided to move in together.

Well, more like Ryouta brought an apartment in the general vicinity of Daiki’s place and Aomine somehow gravitated toward the space until Kise handed him a key and told him there was no point even leaving anymore.

Which Daiki was grateful for; Kagami was driving him up the fucking wall.

Taiga insisted on taking Aomine with him to shop for engagement rings for Tetsuya.

Which was ridiculous considering Kagami and Kuroko couldn’t even get married in Japan yet.

Stupid as it was, Daiki knew he was far too lazy to fight something as trivial as this.

And maybe just maybe, he was curious. As to which place to buy an engagement ring just in case he ever needed to buy a certain someone a certain ring…

Not that he had ever considered himself and Kise ever getting married and owning a white picket fence house with a dog and a cat and a giant basketball court out the back. Living it up in suburbia.

Nope, not at all.

Besides, Kagami always did promise him a one-on-one for his troubles. So at least Daiki could pretend that was why he tagged along…

“Okay it’s doneeee~!” Kise sang from the other room, his voice trailing out into the hallway.

Aomine turned as the blonde came into view holding what looked like a gigantic chocolate cake in his arms. Kagami followed suit, looking rather frazzled with flour all over his face.

“Surprise!” Ryouta cried, grinning at him. “I decided to throw you a party to celebrate this very special event! I invited Midorimacchi and Takaocchi. Oh and not to mention Murasakibaracchi, Himurocchi, Momoicchi, Aidacchi and Akashicchi! They all agreed to come, how exciting!”

“What the-?“ Daiki shouted, being bombarded by an assortment of nicknames he hadn’t heard in what felt like a thousand years.

Aomine, however, was cut off mid yell by Kuroko, who just so conveniently blew a confetti popper in his face.

“What is this even for?” Daiki asked, trying not to sound a little bit touched from the gesture anyway.

A whole party just for him…

How nic-

Aomine glanced at the giant confectionary item in Ryouta’s arms and couldn’t hide the grin from his face.

_‘Congratulations on breaking fifteen basketball hoops in official games and not being fined collateral damage once!’_

“I’m surprise you even know how to spell ‘collateral’” Aomine muttered, trying to stop smiling.  
“Be as tsundere as you want, Daikicchi, you can’t be mad when there’s cake!”

Ryouta did have a point.

Cake was pretty fucking great.

“Thanks, Ryouta, it’s wonderful. It will be uh, great, to see everyone again.” Aomine smiled at his boyfriend, grinning up at the blonde, so genuinely, so pure…

Kise turned bright red.

Perfect.

This had become Daiki’s life now.

There was no more wondering what could have happened if Kise was by his side, because he knew. There were no more nights alone.

Sometimes nightmares kept him awake, sometimes the memory of the chains around his wrists felt a little too real.

But instead of facing it by himself. Isolated, miserable.

He had Ryouta.

And in the end, Aomine realised that was the only thing missing in his life.

Kimoi Kumo was found guilty of blackmail, kidnapping and attempted murder. But thankfully, none of it got out to the news. Ryouta was aware of how much of a scandal this would be if it got out and was utterly grateful to have such a good manager to take care of him…

Aomine and Kise were only at his trial long enough to know that Kimoi was going to be put away for a long, long time.

Daiki still wished that he had gotten to punch the guy at least once, but figured that his vengeance would better off be unfulfilled.

After all; he didn’t want to become anything like that monster of a man. So twisted with finding his petty revenge that he let it consume him…

Kise and Aomine had clutched hands the entire time they had to sit through the hearing, it was painful for the young model to hear all of the accounts being brought to life once more.

Even more so letting his own family know about it after all this time.

But Ryouta stood it, knowing that it was all over now. Everyone was safe.

No one could be hurt anymore.

In the end.

It was all worth it.

 

Up until now, Aomine had been trying to fill the missing piece that the blonde had left behind. Attempting to hole up a gap that didn’t even need to be fixed.

It just needed to be found again.

Daiki looked around, at Kagami and Kuroko. At Kise. At the night sky filling the window with a wild darkness that couldn’t be contained by the atmosphere.

And he couldn’t have been happier about where he was now.

It took more than a single night for him to figure all of this out; it happened gradually.

But when he did, all of those hours stuck together like glue and made him complete. Every night that broke him down, built him up again.

In one single night he had his heart broken.

In one single night he got it right back.

And after all this time, after all these nights…

Whether it was fate or something else entirely…

Aomine knew he belonged with Kise.

~ _The End~_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow, okay guys, that's the end i suppose.  
> (Things must always come to an end, but it still hurts me anyway.)  
> I'd like to thank all of you wonderful guys for reading, commenting and clicking kudos on this fic. It helped me finish this entire story and i wouldn't have been able to do it without you.  
>   
> Anyway, this end note will drag on far too long if i keep talking so i just want to thank you all so much again! ^_^

**Author's Note:**

> reach me @pearliegrimm on tumblr ;)


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